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I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS.' 







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VIEW 

OF 

NATURAL AND REVEALED 



COMPENDIOUS VIEW 



OF 



NATURAL 

AND 



IN SEVEN BOOKS. 



BOOK I. Of the Standard of all Religion, the 
Law of Nature, in its Foundation and Con- 
tents ; the Insufficiency of the Light of Nature 
to render a Man truly virtuous and happy; 
the Possibility, Desirableness, Necessity, Pro- 
priety, Reasonableness, Credibility, Divine Au- 
thority, Properties, and Parts of that Revela- 
tion which is contained in the Scriptures of 
the Old and New Testament. 



BOOK II. Of God, the Author, Object, and 
End of all Religion, in his Perfections, Per- 
sons, Purposes, and Works. 

BOOK III. Of the Bonds of Religious Con- 
nections between God and Men, the Cove- 
nants of Works and Grace, in their Origin, 



Parties, Parts, and Administrations in time 
and through eternity. 

BOOK IV. Of Christ, the Mediator of the Co- 
venant of Grace, in his Person, Offices, and 
States. 

BOOK V. Of the Blessings of the Covenant 
of Grace, Effectual Calling, Justification, Adop- 
tion, Sanctrjication, Spiritual Comfort, Eternal 
Glory. 

BOOK VI. Of the Dispensation of the Cove- 
nant of Grace by means of the Law, the Cos- 
pel, and Ordinances thereof. 

BOOK VII Of the New Covenant Society or 
Church, in her Constitution, Members, Officers, 
and Government. 



¥ 



BY THE REV. JOHN BROWN, H 1% -1 "H 

LATE MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL IN HADDINGTON. 



FIRST AMERICAN, FROM A LATE LONDON EDITION. 

CAREFULLY REVISED, AND IMPROVED WITH THE 

AUTHOR^ LAST ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PUBLISHED AND SOLD BY DAVID HOGA 
NO. 249, MARKET STREET. 




1819 

Grifgs & Co. Printers. 



ADDRESS 



TO 

STUDENTS OF DIVINITY. 



MY DEAR PUPILS, 

TOR my assistance in instructing you, this Compendious 
View of Natural and Revealed Religion was formed. To gra- 
tify a number of you, it is now published. Being formed, 
not to make you read, but to make you think much, it must 
now appear dry and meagre, as stript of its additional re- 
marks ; and no doubt some of its expressions admit of a sense 
which I never intended. To render you mighty in the Scrip- 
tures, readily able to support the several articles of our holy 
religion by the self-evidencing and conscience-commanding 
testimony of the Holy Ghost, and accustomed to express the 
things of God in his own language, multitudes of texts are 
ordinarily quoted, which I have laboured to lodge in your 
memories. To manifest the extensive connection of divine 
truths, some leading articles relative to the perfections of God, 
the person of Christ, he. are traced through many others, in 
a manner which will perhaps be accounted a digression. Few 
insignificant, local, or dormant controversies have been brought 
on the field : Nor, that I know, have the enemies of the truth 
been unfairly represented or indiscreetly answered, in others. 
The deceit or wrath of man worketh not the righteousness 
of God. 

While I have been occupied in instructing you, your con- 
sciences must bear me witness, that my principal concern was 
to impress your minds with the great things of God. Now, 
when I am gradually stepping into the eternal state, to ap- 
pear before the judgment-seat of Christ, permit me to be- 
seech you, as you wish to promote his honour, and the eter- 
nal salvation of your own and your hearer's souls, 



vi ADDRESS TO STUDENTS OF DIVINITY, &c. 

1. See that ye be real Christians yourselves. I now 
more and more see, that nothing less than real, real Chris- 
tianity, is fit to die with, and make an appearance before 
God. Are ye then indeed born again, born Jrom above, born 
of the Spirit P created in Christ Jesus unto g ood works ! — new 
creatures in Christ Jesus, having all old things passed away, 
and all things become new P Arc ye indeed the circumcision 
which worship L>od in the Spirit, habitually reading, medita- 
ting, praying, pr>. aching, conversing with your hearts, under 
the influence of the Holy Ghost ? Have you no confidence in 
the jlesh, no confidence in your seli-righteousness, your learn- 
ing, your address, your care and diligence, your gilts, and 
graces ; — but being emptied of self in every form, are poor in 
spirit, less than the least of all saints, and the least of all God's 
mercies ; nay, the very chief of sinners in your own sight ? 
Has it pleased God to reveal Ins Son in you ? and to instruct 
you with a strong hand, to count all things but loss for the 
excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ as your Lord, 
and to count them but dung, that you may win him, and be 
found in him, not having your own righteousness, but the 
righteousness which is of God by faith, — and to know the 
power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, 
■—and to press toward the mark for the prize of the high 
calling of God in Christ Jesus, John iii. 3, 5, 6. Eph. ii. 10. 
2 Cor. v. 17. Gal. vi. 15. Phil. iii. 3. Matt. v. 3. xvi. 24. 
Eph. iii. 8. Gen. xxxii. 10. 1 Tim. i. 15. Gal. i. 15, 16. 
Phil. iii. 7 — 14. If you be, or become either graceless 
preachers or ministers of the gospel, how terrible is your con- 
dition ! If you open your Bible, the sentence of your re- 
doubled damnation flashes into your conscience from every 
page. When you compose your sermon, you but draw up a 
tremendous indictment against yourselves. If you argue 
against, or reprove other men's sins, you but aggravate your 
own. When you publish the holy law of God, you but add 
to your rebellion against it, and make it an awful witness 
against your treacherous dissimulation. If you announce its 
threatenings, and mention hell with all its insupportable tor- 
ments, you but infeoff yourselves in it, and serve yourselves 



ADDRESS TO STUDENTS OF DIVINITY, &c. vii 

heirs to it as the inheritance appointed you by the Almighty. 
When you speak of Christ and his excellencies, iulness, love, 
and labours, it is but to trample him under your tect. If 
you take his covenant and gospel into your mouth, it is but 
to profane them, and cast them torth to be troaden under 
foot of men. If you talk of spirituai experien^o, ; ou but do 
despite to the Spirit ol grace. When you com menu tlie Ira- 
ther, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and invite sinners to 
new-covenant fellowship with them, you Jul treacnerousry 
stab them under the fifth rib, betray them with u K..3S, and 
from your heart cry, This is the heir, the ouu, conu let us 
kill him. While you hold up the glass of Guu's luw or gos- 
pel to others, you turn its back to yourselves, i lie gospel, 
which ye preach to others, is hid, — is a savour o* death unto 
death to you, the vail remaining on your hearts, and the god 
of this world having blinded your minds. — Without t.xc sav- 
ing, the heart-transforming knowledge of Christ and him 
crucified, all your knowledge is but an accursed puffer up, and 
the murderer of your own souls. And unless the grace of 
God make an uncommon stretch to save you, how desperate is 
your condition ! Perhaps no person under heaven bids more 
unlikely to be saved, than a graceless Seceding minister ; — his 
conscience is so overcharged with guilt, so seared as with an 
hot iron, and his heart so hardened by the abuse of the gos- 
pel. — Alas ! my dear pupils, must all my instructions, all the 
strivings of the Holy Ghost, all your reading, all your medita- 
tions, all your sermons, all your evangelical principles, all 
your professions, all your prayers, as traps and snares, take 
and bind any of you, hand and foot, that, as unprofitable ser- 
vants, you may be cast into utter darkness, with all the con- 
tents of your Bible and other books, — all your gifts and ap- 
parent-like graces, as it were, inlaid in your conscience, that, 
like fuel, or oil, they may for ever feed the flames of God's 
wrath upon your souls ! After being set for a time at the gate 
of heaven, to point others into it, — after prophesying in 
Christ's name, and wasting yourselves to show others the 
way of salvation, and to light up the friends of our Redeemer 
to their heavenly rest,— must your own lamp go out in ever- 



viii ADDRESS TO STUDENTS OF DIVINITY, &c. 

lasting darkness, and ye be bidden, Depart from me, J never 
knew you, ye workers of iniquity f — Must I, — must all the 
churches behold you at last brought forth and condemned as 
arch-traitors to our Redeemer ? Must you, in the most tre- 
mendous manner, for ever sink into the bottomless pit, under 
the weight of the blood of the great God, our Saviour, — un- 
der the weight of murdered truths, murdered convictions, 
murdered gifts, murdered ministrations of the gospel, and 
murdered souls of men ! 

2. Ponder much, as before God, what proper furniture, 
you have for the ministerial work, and labour to increase it*- 
To him that hath shall be given. Has Jesus bestowed on 
you the Holy Ghost ? What distinct knowledge have you of 
the mysteries of the kingdom ? What aptness have you to 
teach, bringing out of the good treasure of your own heart 
things new and old ! What ability to make the deep mysteries 
of the gospel plain to persons of weak capacities, and to re- 
present things delightful or terrible in a proper and affecting 
manner ? What proper quickness in conceiving divine things ; 
and what rooted inclination to study them, as persons devoted 
to matters of infinite importance? What peculiar fitness have 
you for the pulpit, qualifying you, in a plain, serious, orderly, 
and earnest manner, to screw the truths of God into the con- 
sciences, of your hearers ? With what stock of self-experi- 
enced truths and texts of inspiration did, or do you enter on 
the ministerial work ? Of what truths, relative to the law of 
God, — or relative to sin, Satan, or the desertions and terrours 
of God, has your soul not only seen the evidence, but felt 
the power ? What declarations, promises, offers, and invita- 
tions of the glorious gospel, have ye, with joy and rejoicing 
of heart, found and eaten, and therein tasted and seen that 
God is good ? Of what inspired truths and texts can you say, 
Even so we have believed, and therefore we speak : what we have 
seen and -heard with the Father, and tasted and handled of 
the word of life, that we declare unto you. Thrice happy 
preacher, whose deeply-experienced heart is, next to his Bible, 
his principal note-book ! John xx. 22. Matt. xiii. 22, 12, 52. 



ADDRESS TO STUDENTS OF DIVINITY, &c. ix 

1 Tim. iii. 2. Tit. i. 9. 2 Tim. ii. 2. Isa. 1. 4. xlix. 2. Jer. 
xv. 16. 2 Cor. iv. 13. 1 John i. 1 — 3. John viii. 34. 

3. Take heed that your call from Christ and his Spirit 
to your ministerial work, he not only real but evident. 
Without this you can neither be duly excited or encouraged 
to your work ; nor hope, nor pray for divine success in it ; 
nor hear up aright under the difficulties you must encounter, 
if you attempt to be faithful. If you run unsent by Jesus 
Christ and his Spirit, notwithstanding the utmost external 
regularity in your licence, call, and ordination, -vou, in the 
whole of your ministrations, must act the part of a sacrile- 
gious thief and robber, a pretended and treacherous ambas- 
sador for Christ and Ids Father, and a murderer of men's souls, 
not profiting them at all. What direction, — what support, — 
what assistance, — what encouragement, — what reward can 
you then expect? Ponder, therefore, as before God : Have 
you taken this honour to yourselves ? or, Were ye called of 
God as was Aaron ? Has Jesus Christ sent you to preach the 
gospel, and laid upon you a delightful and awful necessity to 
preach it? While he powerfully determined you to follow 
providence, and avoid every selfish and irregular step towards 
entrance into the office as a mean of eating a piece of bread, 
or enjoying carnal ease or honour, did he breathe on vou, 
and cause you to receive the Holy Ghost, — filling you with 
deep compassion to the perishing souls of men, and a deep 
sense of your unfitness for such arduous work, and fervent 
desire, that if the Lord were willing to use you as instruments 
of winning souls, he would sanctify you, and make you meet 
for his work ? — Perhaps, providentially shut out from other 
callings to which you or your parents inclined, did you, in 
your education, go up bound in the Spirit by the love of Christ 
burning in your hearts, and constraining you cheerfully to 
surrender yourselves to poverty, reproach, and hatred of men, 
for promoting his name and honour, and the salvation of men 
in the world? — What oracles of God, powerfully impressed 
on your soul, have directed and encouraged you to his work? 
— Know you in what form Jesus Christ gnve vou your com- 
mission? Whether to open the eyes of the Gentiles, and turn 

B 



x ADDRESS TO STUDENTS OF DIVINITY, &c. 

them from darkness to light, and from the poiver of Satan 
unto Ood, — that they May receive forgiveness of sins, and 
an inheritance aittong them who are sanctified by faith in 
him :-• -Or to go make the lieart of this people fat, their ears 
heavy, and to shut their eyes'} Jer. xxiii. 21, 22. 32. Isa. xlix. 
1, 2. Jer. i. Ezek. ii. iii. Xxxiii. Mat. x. Luke vi. x. Johnx. 
Acts i. Heb. v. 4. Rom. x. 15. 1 Cor. i. 17. ix. 16. Acts 
xxvi. 17, 18. Isa. vi. 8, 9. 

4. See that your end in entering into, or executing your 
office, be single and disinterested. Dare you appeal to him, 
whose eyes are as aflame of fire, and who searcheth the hearts 
and trielh the reins, to give to every man according to his 
works, that you never inclined to be put into the priest's of- 
fice, that you might eat a piece of Bread, and look every one 
for his gain from his quarter/ that ye seek not great things 
for yourselves ; that ye covet no man's silter, gold, or appa- 
rel ; that ye seek not men's property, but themselves, that you 
may win them to Christ for their eternal welfare ; that ye 
seek not your own honour, ease, or temporal advantage, but 
the things of Christ and his people ; : that ye seek not ho now 
or glory of men, but the honour of Christ or his Father, in 
the eternal salvation of souls ; and have determined to prose- 
cute this end through whatever distress or danger the Lord 
may be pleased to lay in your way ? Jer. xlv. 5. 1 Sam. xii. 
3. Acts xx. 33. Isa. lvi. 11. 2 Tim. iv. 10. 1 Cor. ix. 12, 16. 
% Cor. vii. 2. xi. 9. xii. 13, 14. vi. 4—19. Phil. ii. 21. 
1 Thess. ii. 4 — 9. John vii. 18. 

5. See that your minds be deeply impressed with the na- 
ture, extent, and importance of your ministerial work — 
That therein it is required of you, as ambassadors- for Christ, 
as stewards of the mysteries and manifold grace of God, — to 
be faithful ; — to serve the Lord with your spirit, and with 
much humility, in the gospel of his Son ; — to testify repen- 
tance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, 
noc keeping back or shunning to declare every part of the 
counsel of God, or any profitable instruction, reproof, or 
encouragement j and not moved with any reproach, persecu- 
tion, hunger, or nakedness; — to be ready not only to be 



ADDRESS TO STUDENTS OP DIVINITY, 8cc »I 

bound, but to die for the name of the Lord Jesus, in order 
to finish your course with joy. Bearing with the infirmities 
of the weak, and striving together in prayer, that the word 
of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, and your 
messages provided by God, and made acceptable to your 
hearers, you must labour with much fear and trembling, de- 
termined to know, to glory in, and make known, nothing 
but Jesus Christ, and him crucified, — preaching the gospel, 
not with enticing words of man's wisdom, asmen-pleasers,buf. 
with grc-at plainness of speech, in demonstration of the Spirit 
and with power, — speaking the things which are freely given 
you by God, not in the words which man's wisdom teaches, 
but mwordswhichthe Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritu- 
al things with spiritual, — as having the mind of Christ, always 
triumphing in him, — and making manifest the savour of the 
knowledge of him in every place, that you may be a sweet 
savour of Christ in them who are saved, and in them who 
perish ; — as of sincerity, as of God, in the sight of God, 
speaking in Christ, and through the mercy of God, not faint^- 
ing, but renouncing the hidden things of dishonesty ; — not 
walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceit- 
fully, or corrupting the truth, but manifesting the truth to 
every man's conscience, as in the sight of God ; — not preach- 
ing yourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and yourselves 
servants to the church for his sake, alvvay bearing about his 
dying, that his life may be manifested in you ; — and knowing 
the terror of the Lord, and deeply impressed with the account 
which you and your hearers must give to him of your whole 
conduct in the day of judgment, — awed by his infinite autho- 
rity, constrained and inflamed by his love, you must persuade 
men, beseeching them to be reconciled unto God, and mak- 
ing yourselves manifest to God and to their conscience, — and, 
as their edification requires, changing your voice, and turning 
yourselves every way, and becoming all things to all men, in 
order to gain them to Christ, — jealous over them with a 
godly jealousy, in order to espouse them to him as chaste vir- 
gins, — travailing in birth, till he be formed in their hearts. 
You must take heed to your ministry which you have re- 
ceived in the Lord, that you may fulfil it} — stir up the gifts 



ail ADDRESS TO STUDENTS OF DIVINITY, &c. 

which were given you, — give yourselves wholly to reading, 
exhortation, and doctrine ; — and perseveringly take heed to 
yourselves and to the doctrine which you preach, that you 
may save yourselves and them that hear you ; — watching for 
their souls, as they who do, and must give an account for 
them to God, — rightly dividing the word of truth, and giving 
every man his portion in due season; faithfully warning every 
man with tears, night and day, teaching every man, particu- 
larly young ones, and labouring to present every man perfect 
in Christ Jesus; — and warring, not after the flesh, nor with 
carnal weapons, but with such as are mighty through God to 
tht pulling down of strong holds and casting down imagina- 
tions, and subduing every thought and affection to the obe- 
dience of Christ. Having him for the end of your conversa- 
tion, and holding fast the form of sound words, in faith in 
and love to him, — not entangling yourselves with the af- 
fairs of this life, nor ashamed of the Lord, or of his cause 
or prisoners, but ready to endure hardships as good sol- 
diers of Jesus Christ, and to endure all things for the 
elect's sake, that they may obtain salvation with eternal 
glory; — ye must go forth without the camp, bearing his 
reproach, and, exposed as spectacles of sufferings to angels 
and men, must not faint under your tribulations, but feed the 
flock of God which he has purchased with his own blood, 
and over which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers, — 
preaching the word in season and out of season, reproving, 
rebuking, and exhorting with all long-suffering and doctrine, 
— taking the oversight of your people, not by constraint, but 
willingly, not for filthy lucre of worldly gain, or larger sti- 
pends, but of a ready mind, — neither as being lords over 
God's heritage, but as examples to the flock, — exercising 
yourselves to have a conscience void of offence towards God 
and towards man, — having a good conscience, willing in all 
things to live honestly, — exercised to godliness, — kindly af- 
fectioned, disinterested, holy, just and unblameable, — pru- 
dent examples of the believers, in conversation, in charitv, in 
faith and purity, — fleeing youthful lusts, and following after 
righteousness, peace, faith, charity, — not striving, but being 
gentle unto a.11 men, — in meekness, instructing them who op- 



ADDRESS TO STUDENTS OF DIVINITY, Sic. xiii 

pose themselves, avoiding foolish and unlearned questions, 
and old wives' fables, — fleeing from perverse disputings and 
world ly-mindedness, as most dangerous snares ; and follow- 
ing after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meek- 
nsss ; — fighting the good fight of faith, and laying hold on 
eternal lift; — keeping your trust of gospel truth and ministe- 
rial office, and, without partiality or precipitancy, committing 
the same to faithful men, who may be able to teach others ; 
— and, in fine, faithfully labouring, in the Lord, to try, and 
coniute, and censure false teachers, publicly rebuke or excom- 
municate open transgressors, restore such as have been over- 
taken in a fault in the spirit of meekness, — and having com- 
passion on them, to pull them out of the fire, hating even the 
garment spotted by the flesh, and never conniving at, or par- 
taking with any in their sins. Who is sufficient for these 
tilings ? May vour sufficiency be of God ; and as your days 
are, so may your strength be. Ezek. ii. 7. iii. 9, 17 — 21. 
xxxiii. 7 — 9. Isa. Iviii. 1. Jer. i. 17, 18. xv. 19,20. Mic. iii. 

8. Mai. ii. 6, 7. Matth. x. 16—39. xix. 28, 29. xx. 25—28. 
xxiii. 3 — 12. xxiv. 42 — 51. xxviii. 18 — 20. Acts xviii. 
24—28. xx. 18—35. xxiv. 16. xxvi. 16—23. 1 Cor. ii. 1—5, 

9, 12, 13. i. — v. ix. xii. — xiv. 2 Cor. ii. — vi. x. — xiii. Rom- 
i. 9, 16. ix. 1,2. x. 1. xii. xv. Gal. i. 8—16. iv. 19. Eph. 
iii. 7, S, 9. iv. 11—15. vi. 19, 20. Col. iv. 7, 17. i. 23—29. 
ii. 1, 2. 1 Thess. ii. iii. v. 12. 1 Tim. iii. — vi. 2 Tim. i. — iii. 

.Heb. xiii. 7, 17, 18. 1 Pet. iv. 10, 11. v. 1—4. Jude 22, 23. 
Rev. ii. iii. xi. 3 — 7. xiv. 6 — 11. 

6. See that ye take heed to your spirits, that ye deal not 
treacherously with the Lord. In approaching to, or exe- 
cuting the ministerial office, keep your hearts with all dili- 
gence ; for out of it are the issues of eternal life, or death, to 
yourselves and others. Building up yourselves in your most 
holy faith, and praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves 
in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus 
Christ unto eternal life. If you do not ardently love Christ, 
how can you faithfully and diligently feed his lambs— his 
sheep ? Alas ! how many precious sermons, exhortations, and 
instructions are quite marred and poisoned by coming through 



tfv ADDRESS TO STUDENTS OP DIVINITY, &.c. 

the cold, carnal, and careless heart of bbe preacher, and being 
attended with his imprudent, untender, and lukewarm life ? 
If you have not a deep-felt experience of the terrors of the 
Lord, — of the bitterness of sin, vanity of this world, and im- 
portance of eternity,— and of the conscience-quieting and 
heart-captivating virtue of Jesus's bleeding love, how can you 
be duly serious and hearty in preaching the gospel ? If. all 
influenced by a predominate love to Christ, your heart be not 
fixed on everlasting things, and powerfully animated to an 
eager following of peace and holiness, how can you, without 
the most abominable treachery, declare to men their chief 
happiness, and the true method of obtaining it ? If 3'our graces 
be not kept lively, your loins girt, and your lamps burning, 
all enkindled by the heart-constraining love of Christ, how 
cold, how carnal, and blasted must your sacred ministrations 
be ? If your work, as ambassadors of Christ, be to transact 
matters of everlasting importance between an infinite God, 
and immortal, but perishing, souls of men ; if the honours 
and privileges of it be so invaluable, what inexpressible need 
have you of habitual dependence on Christ by a lively faith ? 
What self-denial, what ardent love to Christ and his Father, 
what disinterested regard to his honour, what compassion to 
souls, what prudence, what faithfulness and diligence, what 
humility and holy zeal, what spirituality of mind and conver- 
sation, what order, what plainness, what fervour, what just 
temperature of mildness and severity, — is necessary in every 

part of it ! If, while you minister in holy things, your 

lusts prevail and are indulged, you have less of real or lively 
Christianity than the most weak and uncircumspect saints 
under your charge ; — if your evil heart of unbelief fearfully 
carry you off from the living God, and you can live uncon- 
cerned while the powerful and sanctifying presence of God is 
withheld from yourselves or your flocks, — how sad is your 
and their case! — If your indwelling pride be allowed to 
choose your company, your dress, your victuals, nay, your 
text, 3'our subject, your order, your language ; — if it be allow- 
ed to indite your thoughts, and. to the reproach and blasting 
©f the gospel of Christ, to deck your sermon with tawdry 



ADDRESS TO STUDENTS OF DIVINITY, &c. xv 

ornaments and fancies, as if it were a stage-play, to blunt and 
muffl ■ up his sharp arrows with silken smoothness and swollen 
bombast ; — if it be allowed to kindle your fervour, and form 
your looks, your tone, vour action ; — or to render you enrap j 
tured or self-conceited, because of subsequent applause ; — or 
sad and provoked, because your labours are contemned — how 
dreadful is vour danger and that of your hearers ! How can 
ministerial labours, originating in pride, spurred on by the 
fame of learning, diligence, or holiness, hurt the interests 
of Satan, from whose influence they proceed ? — If pride be 
allowed to cause you to envy or wound the characters of such 
as differ from, or outshine you, or to make you reluctant to 
Christian reproof from your inferiors, how fearful is your 
guilt and danger ! Pride indulged is no more consistent with 

a Christian character, than drunkenness and whoredom. 

If you take up or cleave to any principle or practice in reli- 
gion, in the way of factious contention, how abominable to 
God is the sower of discord among brethren.' — If you under- 
value the peace and prosperity of the church of Christ, and 
are not afflicted with her in all her afflictions, how cruel, and 
unchrist-like your conduct!— If, in justly proving your oppo- 
nents deceivers and blasphemers, you, by your angry manner., 
plead the cause of the devil, will God accept it as an offering 
at your hands ? — If you are slothful in studying or declaring 
the truths of Cbrist, — if, to save labour or expense, you are 
inactive or averse to help such as have no fixed ministrations, 
or to contrive or prosecute projects for advancing the king- 
dom of Christ, and promoting the salvation of men, how great 
is your baseness, how dreadful your hazard ! — Think, as be- 
fore God, did Jesus Christ furnish you for, and put you into 
the ministry, that you might idle away, or prostitute your 
devoted time, tear his church, conceal or mangle- his truths, 
betray his interests, or starve and murder the souls of men ? 
Are not your people the jlock of God, zvhich he purchased 
with his ozvn blood f Will you then dare to destroy his peculiar 
property and portion, and attempt to frustrate the end of his 
death ? Did Jesus die for men's souls ? arid will you grudge a 
small labour or expense to promote hi.3 honour in their eter- 



tvi ADDRESS TO STUDENTS OF DIVINITY, &c. 

nal salvation ? If the Son of God was crucified for men, — 
crucified for vou, will you refuse, through his Spirit, to cru- 
cify your selfishness, your pride, your sloth, your worldly and 
covetous disposition, in order to save yourselves, and them 
that hear you ? — While your own salvation, and the salvation of 
multitudes, are so deeply connected with your faithfulness, 
and diligence, — while the powers of hell and earth so set 
themselves in opposition to your work, that, in your falls, 
they may triumph over Christ, your Master, and his church, 
— while so many eyes, of God, angels, and men, are upon you, 
why do you ever think or speak of eternal things, of heaven 
and hell, of Jesus's person, offices, righteousness, love, and 
free salvation, without the most serious and deep impression 
of their importance ? While perhaps you preach your last ser- 
mon, and have before you, and on every hand of you, hun- 
dreds or scores of perishing souls, suspended over~hell by the 
frail thread of mortal life, not knowing what a day or an hour 
majl bring, forth, — souls already in the hands of the devil, and, 
as it were, just departing to be with him in the lake which 
burns with fire and brimstone, — souls already slain by the 
gospel of our salvation blasted and cursed to them, partly by 
your means, — why do not tears of deep concern mingle them- 
selves with every point you study, every sentence you publish 
in the name of Christ ?~When multitudes of your hearers, 
some of them never to hear you more, and just leaping off 
into the depths of hellj are, in respect of their needs, crying 
with an exceeding bitter cry, Minister, help, help, we perish, 
— we utterly perish, — pinch the brand out of thehurning fie- 
ri) furnace, — why spend your devoted time in idle visits, un- 
edifving converse, useless reading, or unnecessary sleep ? — 
What, if, while vou are so employed, some of your hearers 
drop into eternal flames, and begin their everlasting cursing of 
vou for not doing more to promote their salvation ? When Je- 
sus arises to require their blood at your hand, how accursed 
will that knowledge appear, which was not improved for his ho- 
nour who bestowed it ! that ease, which issued in the damna- 
tion of "multitudes ! — that conformity to the world, which per- 
mitted, or that unedifying converse which encouraged your 



ADDRESS TO STUDENTS OF DIVINITY, &c. x\ u 

hearers to sleep into hell in their sins ! — that pride or luxury 
which restrained your charity, or disgracefully plunged you 

into debt ! Since, my dear pupils, all the truths of God, 

all the ordinances and privileges of his church, — the eternal 
salvation of multitudes, and the infinitely precious honour of 
Jesus Christ and his Father, as connected with the present and 
future ages of time, are intrusted to you, how necessary, that, 
like Jesus your Master, you should he faithful in all things to 

him who appointed you ! If you do the work of our Lord 

deceitfully, — in what tremendous manner shall your parents 
who devoted and educated you for it, — your teachers who 
prepared you for it, — the seminaries of learning in which you 
received your instruction, — the years which you spent in your 
studies, — all the gifts which were bestowed upon you, — all 
the thoughts, words, and works of God, in the redemption of 
men, — all the oracles, commands, promises, and threatenings 
of God, which direct, inculcate, or enforce your duty, — all 
the examples of Jesus Christ, and all his apostles, prophets, 
and faithful ministers, — all the leaves of your Bible,— all the 
books of your closet, — all the engagements you have come 
under, — -all the sermons which you preach, — all the instruc- 
tions which you tender to others, — -all the discipline which 
you exercise, — all the maintenance which you receive, — all 
the honours which you enjoy or expect, — all the testimonies 
which you give against the negligence of parents, masters, 
ministers, or magistrates, — all the vows and resolutions which 
you have made to reform, — and all the prayers which you 
have presented to God for assistance or success, — rise up 
against you as witnesses, in the day of the Lord ! 

7. See that ye, as workmen who need not be ashamed, 
earnestly labour rightly to divide the word of truth, ac- 
cording to the capacities, necessities, and particular occa- 
sions of your hearers, giving every one of them their por- 
tion in due season. Never make your own ease, your incli- 
nation or honour, but the need of souls, and the glory of 
Christ, the regulator in your choice of subjects. Labour 
chiefly on the principal points of religion : To bring down 
the fundamental mysteries of the gospel to the capacities of 

C 



xviii ADORES S TO STUDENTS OF DIVINITY, Sec. 

your hearers, and inculcate on their consciences the great 
points of union to and fellowship with Christ, regeneration, 
justification, and sanctification, — these will require all vour 
grace, learning, and labour. Never aim at tickling the ears 
or pleasing the fancies of your hearers, but at convincing 
their consciences, enlightening their minds, — attracting their 
affections, and renewing their wills, that they may be per- 
suaded and enabled to embrace and improve Jesus Christ as 
freely offered to them in the gospel, for wisdom, righteous- 
ness, sanctification, and redemption. Labour to preach the 
law as a broken covenant,— -the gospel of salvation, — and 
the law as a rule of life, — not only in their extensive matter, 
but also in their proper order and connection. It is only 
when they are properly connected, that the precious truths of 
God appear in their true lustre and glory. It is at your 
infinite hazard, and the infinite hazard of them that hear 
you, if you, even by negligence, either blend or put asunder 
that law and gospel which Jesus Christ has so delightfully 
joined together. No where is it more necessary to take 
heed, than in preaching up the duties of holiness. Let all be 
founded in union to and communion with Christ; all en- 
forced by the pattern, love, righteousness, and benefits of 
Christ, Eph. iv. v. vi. Col. iii. iv. 1 Pet. iii. iv. [See Dic- 
tion, art. Gospel, and Sabbath Journal.] 

8. You have stated yourselves public witnesses for Jesus 
Christ, who profess to adhere to, and propagate his injured 
truths* — and to commemorate with thankfulness the remark- 
able mercies which he has bestowed on our church and 
nation, — and to testify against, and mourn over our own 
and our fathers' fearful backslidings from that covenanted 
work of reformation once attained in our land : see that ye 
be judicious, upright, constant, and faithful in your profes- 
sion. I now approach death, heartily satisfied with our ex- 
cellent Westminster Confession of Faith* Catechisms, and 
Form of church-government, — and cordially adhering to these 
Covenants, by which our fathers solemnly bound themselves 
and their posterity, to profess the doctrines and practise the 
duties therein contained. I look upon the Secession as in- 



ADDRESS TO STUDENTS OF DIVINITY, &c. ifc 

deed the cause of God, but sadly mismanaged and disho- 
noured by myself and others. Alas ! for that pride, passion, 
selfishness, and unconcern for the glory of Christ, and spi- 
ritual edification of souls, which has so often prevailed ! — 
Alas ! for our want of due meekness, gentleness, holy zeal, 
self-denial, hearty grief for sin, compassion to souls in im- 
mediate connection with us, or left in the established church, 
which became distinguished witnesses for Christ. Alas ! that 
we did not chiefly strive to pray better, preach better, and live 
better than our neighbours. — Study to see every thing with 
your own eyes, but never indulge an itch after novelties : 
most of those which are now esteemed such, are nothing but 
old errors which were long ago justly refuted, varnished 
over with some new expressions. Never, by your peevish- 
ness, contentions, eagerness about worldly things, or the 
like, make others think lightly of the cause of God among 
your hands. If I mistake not, the churches are entering 
into a fearful cloud of apostacy and trouble. But he that 
endures to the end shall be saved. Be ye faithful unto the 
death, and Christ shall give you a crown of life. But if any 
man draw back, God's soul shall have no pleasure in him. 

9. Always improve and live on that blessed encourage- 
ment which is offered to you, as Christians and ministers, in 
the gospel. Let all your wants be on Christ. My God shall 
supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by 
Christ Jesus. Cast all your cares on him, for he careth for 
you. Cast all your burdens on him, and he will sustain 
you. If your holy services, through your mismanagement, 
occasion your uncommon guilt, his blood cleanseth from all 
sin. You have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the 
righteous, who is the propitiation for your sins. If you be 
often difficulted how to act, he hath said, 77ie meek ivill he 
guide in judgment : the meek will he teach his way. — I will 
instruct thee, and teach thee in the way which thou shall go. 
1 will guide thee with mine eye set upon thee. I will lead the 
blind in a tvay which they know not — If you be much dis- 
couraged because of your rough way and vourwantof strength, 
he has said, TFften the poor and needy seek ivatcr and there 



xx ADDRESS TO STUDENTS OF DIVINITY, &c. 

is none, and their tongue fuileth for thirst, I the Lord will 
hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. I ivill 
open rivers in high places. Fear not, for J am with thee : 
be not dismayed, for I am thy God. Iivitl strengthen thee: 
Yea, 1 will help thee : I ivill uphold thee with the right hand 
of my righteousness. Fear not, worm Jacob, — 1 will I elp 
thee, sailh the Lord thy Redeemer. 1 will make thee a new 
sharp thrashing instrument, and thou shalt thrash the 
mountains. My grace shall be sufficient for thee: for my 
strength is made perfect in weakness. As thy days are, so 
shall thy strength be. — If your troubles be many, he hath said, 
When thou passest through the waters 1 will be with thee; — 
the rivers shall not overfloiv thee: When thou walkest 
through the fire, thou shult not be burnt, nor shall the 
fame kindle upon thee. — 11 your incomes be small and pinch- 
ing, Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that 
though he teas rich, yet for our sukes he became poor, that 
we through his poverty might be rich. He shall see hisseed t 
— the travail of his soul, and be satisfied: and he has pro- 
mised, J will abundantly bless her provision, and satisfy 
her poov'with bread. 1 will satiate the soul of her priests 
7vith fatness. A salary of remarkable fellowship with Christ, 
and of success in winning souls, is the most delightful and 
enriching. — If your labours appear to have little success, be 
more diligent and dependent on Christ. Never mourn as 
they that have no hope. Let not the eunuch say, I am a dry 
tree. Jesus hath said, 1 will pour water on him that is thirs- 
ty, and floods on the dry ground. 1 will pour my Spirit on 
thy seed, and my blessing on thine offspriug. A seed shall 
serve him. The whole earth shall be filed with his glory. 
The kingdoms of this ivorld shall become the kingdoms of 
our Lord and his Christ. Believe it on the testimony of 
God himself: believe it on the testimony of all his faithful 
servants ; and, if mine were of any avail, I should add it, That 
there is no master so kind as Christ ; no service so pleasant 
and profitable as that of Christ ; and no reward so full, satis- 
fying, and permanent as that of Christ. Let us, therefore, be- 
gin all things from Christ ; carry on all things with and 
ft rough ChrisL; and let all things aim at and end in 
Christ. 



CONTENTS. 



BOOK I. 

OF THE REGULATING STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

CHAPTER I. Of the Law of Nature, as correspondent with the 
natuie of man its subject, and of God its author ; chief end of obe- 
dience to it ; its matter and form ; duty required by it, religion to- 
wards God: — Virtue, personal, and social towards men, — kind- 
ness, — equity, — truth, — relative duties respecting married per- 
sons, children, servants, — civil societies:— Advantages of religion 
and virtue, -------- Page 1 — 29 

GHAP. II. Of the insufficiency of the law, and especially of the 
light of nature, to conduct men to true and lasting felicity, because 
of its obscurity, inefficacy, deficiency, and unsuitableness to the 
condition of sinful men, ------ 29 — 39 

CHAP. III. Of the revealed standard of religion contained in the 
scriptures of the Old and New Testament, in the possibility, desir- 
ableness, necessity, propriety, reasonableness, credibility, divine 
authority, perspicuity, perfection, contents, and means of explain- 
ing it, 39—98 

BOOK II. 

OF GOD, THE AUTHOR, OBJECT, AND END OF ALL RELIGION. 

CHAP. I. Of God's names, nature, and perfections; knowledge, 
wisdom, power, sovereignty, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth; 
self-existence, independence, simplicity, infinity, eternity, un- 
changeableness, unity and subsistence in three distinct persons, 

99—130 

CHAP. II. Of Persons in the Godhead; what they are; their charac- 
teristics, plurality, and being precisely three.— Proofs of the dis- 
tinct personality and equal supreme deity of the Father, the Son, 
and che Holy Ghost ; and how they are distinguished. — General 
observations concerning this mystery, - - - 130 — 146 

CHAP. III. Of the decrees of God ; what they are ; their exact 
correspondence to his works of creation and providence ; their ob- 
jects their properties ; principal contents of election and repro- 
bation of particular angels and men, - - . 147 170 

CHAP. IV. Of God's execution of his decrees, in his creating of all 
things, particularly angels and men ; and his upholding and go- 
verning ihem in his providence, natural, miraculous, moral and 
peculiar, - - - 170—191 



> 



xxi* Contents. 



book VII. 

OF THE CHURCH OR SOCIETY, FOR, AND TO WHICH, THE 
COVENANT OF GRACE IS DISPENSED. 

CHAP. I. Of the nature, formation, and fellowship, of the Christian 
Church, 550—556 

CHAP. II. Of Church- fiovier, and the subjects in which it resides; 
Head and officers, 556—570 

CHAP. III. Of ecclesiastical judicatories, their divine warrant, 
work, and censures, ...... 570 — 576 



A COMPENDIOUS 

VIEW 

OF 

NATURAL AND REVEALED RELIGION. 



BOOK I. 

OP THE REGULATING STANDARD OF RELIGION, NATURAL 
AND REVEALED. 



CHAP. L 
Of the Law of Nature. 

AS the law of nature must necessarily correspond with the 
nature of God, who imposeth it, and of men, who are subjected 
to it, and with their relations to each other; these must be 
carefully considered, in order to our obtaining a proper know- 
ledge of it. 

Beginning with our own nature, as next to us : — We can form 
no idea of a substance distinct from its most obvious essential 
qualities, as they are necessarily included in every adequate con- 
ception of it — By reflection upon that which passeth in our own 
minds, we obtain the simple idea of thought, and so conceive of 
spirits as thinking substances : and, by sensation, we perceive 
body to be a solid and extended substance. Thus knowing 
the essential properties of spirits as well as of bodies, and being 
incapable to comprehend the inward constitution of both, we 
have at least as much certainty of the existence of spirits as of 
bodies, — though by our more habitual attention to the surface 
of matter, we are apt to imagine, that we more thoroughly un- 
derstand its nature. 

From inward consciousness, and from our observation of the 
actings of others around us, we perceive, that the human soul 

D * 



2 OF THE LAW OF NATURE. 

is a spirit endowed with powers of perception, judging, and 
reasoning, as well as of recollecting and retaining ideas ; — and 
with a power of willing, choosing, desiring, delighting in, or 
disliking and hating ', — and even a power of moving at least the 
external parts of our body by means of the nerves, — and of re- 
ceiving impressions from them, when objects around appear 
rare, good, or evil. Nevertheless, it must not be imagined, that 
our understanding and will are different parts of our soul, but 
are the same soul considered as exercising different powers. 

It is evident that our soul is most closely united with our bo- 
dy, though we cannot comprehend the mode of it. Motions in 
our brain and nerves excite ideas in our mind ; and passions in 
our soul excite motions in our body. The indisposition of our 
body often disqualified! our mind for exercising its powers in a 
regular and lively manner. In sleep, in frenzies of our brain T 
or in some nervous distempers, our mind acts in a disorderly 
manner. — On the other hand, intense thinking disqualifies our 
body for acute and ready sensation. — But we cannot determine 
whether human souls be formed with different degrees of spi- 
ritual powers ; or, whether the difference of capacity observa- 
ble among men ariseth from the different constitution of their 
bodies, and climates in which they live. Nor can we say, whe- 
ther our soul is immediately united with and resides in the brain, 
in which, 1. All these nerves on which our sensation depends, 
do terminate. 2. All the diseases that deprive us of our sensa- 
tion are seated. 3. A small disorder in the brain renders the 
agency of the soul very weak or irregular, as in the case of 
idiots and madmen. 4. When any nerve is cut or hard tied, 
it retains its sensation only in that part which is next to the 
brain. 5. If our brain be lost or sore wounded, our life ceas- 
eth: — Or, whether the soul be immediately united to and reside 
in the heart, in which the last remains of life are perceived. 

Some learned men contend, That all our ideas of material 
objects are produced by sensation, and our ideas of spiritual ob- 
jects by reflection, the latter rectifying the mistakes of the for- 
mer ; — and that we have no innate ideas, as we gradually ac- 
quire new ideas ; and can form none of sensible objects, with- 
out the exercise of the correspondent senses of seeing, hearing, 
smelling, tasting, or touching. Others contend, That all our 
ideas have their origin in our mind itself; and that our sensa- 
tion and reflection are no more than means of exciting them. 
It is certain, that our mind cannot forbear assenting to se- 
veral primary axioms of knowledge : as, that nothing can b e, 
and not be, at the same time; that nothing can give that 
which it hath not ; that there is a God, &c. It is no less certain, 
that the same external qualities of objects often excite different 
ideas in different persons ; or, in the same persons at different 



OF TILE LAW OF NATURE. 2 

times. That which is pleasant, comely, &c. to one, may be dis- 
agreeable to another, or even to the same person at another time. 

Some contend, That human souls neither do, nor can exist 
without actual t kinking, any more than bodies can exist with- 
out extension, and that no soul can awaken or excite itself to the 
actual exercise of thought. Others maintain, That they can 
cease from thinking for a time, as in deep sleep, strong apo- 
plectic or paralytic distempers, — as infants who have few ideas, 

sleep much. It is certain, that in our present mortal state, 

our soul thinks worst when it seems most abstracted from our 
body, as in dreams, &c. and that personal identity cannot con- 
sist in continued consciousness of thinking or of the same ac- 
tions ; for, none are conscious of tbeir lying in their mother's 
womb, or of their being born, and nevertheless were the same 
persons as they are afterward at full age : But it must consist in 
our having the same soul united with a body, which is the same 
in some essential respects.— —No wonder that I know so little 
of God, when the most learned men appear to know so little of 
themselves. Never let me dare to make my weak and indis- 
tinct perceptions a standard for judging of his unbounded ex- 
cellencies. 

The human memory is an intellectual power of rceollecting 
or retaining our ideas, and is called good, when it quickly re- 
collects and strongly retains them. Its condition much depends 
on that of our body, whether it be in health, free from sleep, 
&c. It is best in youth, or when we are brisk and lively ; or, 
when our ideas are attended with remarkable pleasure or pain. 
Nay, the pleasure or pain which attends our ideas, when con- 
ceived in our mind, renders our time or duration sensibly short- 
er or longer. A violent blow upon the head, which disorders 
the brain, sometimes eraseth all former ideas, that nothing 
which hath been experienced can be remembered. 

The affections or passions of the human soul are its dispo- 
sitions toward, or in opposition to, those objects of which it 
thinks. They originate from, or are exerted by sensation or re- 
flection ; — by ideas recollected, or by apprehensions of ap- 
proaching good or evil ; and cannot be excited, or hindered, by 
an act of our will, any more than the internal parts of our body 
can be governed by it. — They are diversified and distinguished 
into love, hatred, joy, grief, hope, fear, wonder, astonishment, 
See. according as the objects which excite them appear to us 
good, evil, rare, dreadful, &c. : and according to the apprehend- 
ed degrees of that goodness, evil, or rarity, &c. and according 
to the apprehended presence, absence, or futurity of these objects. 

An acquired mental habit is that easiness and readiness 
of thinking or willing in such a particular manner, which is pro- 



4 OF THE LAW OF NATURE. 

duced by frequency of thinking and willing in that form. It 
depends much on our memory's furnishing us with recollected 
ideas, and with views of the relation between causes and effects, 
antecedents and consequents, &c. and on its readily presenting 
the motives which influence us to such particular forms of 
thinking. Hence, if our memory be weakened or ruined, so, 
ordinarily, are our mental habits. 

Freedom of will is either natural, when we are not invin- 
cibly determined in our choice towards this or that particular 
thing : or external, when no forcible restraint put on our body 
or mind, hinders our choice ; or philosophical, when we have a 
prevalent disposition to act according to the dictates of our rea- 
son ; or moral, when no superiour, by his forbidding or com- 
manding authority, interferes in the regulation of our acts. 

Our common and continued consciousness, that we have by 
nature a liberty of choice, or of acting agreeably to our own ap- 
prehensions or inclinations ; — our frequent preferring of one 
thing to another, even without well knowing why we do so ; 
and the rewardableness and punishableness of our actions by 
God, plainly manifest that we have this freedom of choice in 
our will. 

The human soul is immediately created by God in that very 
act which unites it to its respective body. No man ever re- 
membered of his being in a pre-existent state, in which, had 
it been, it behoved his unembodied soul to have been very ac- 
tive. It is absurd to pretend, that it pre-existed in animalcules 
of generating matter. The existence of such, or the formation 
of the human body from them, hath never been proved; nor 
can be, without supposing a stifling or extinction of millions of 
souls in the conception of every infant. 

The human soul is immortal, existing and acting in a future 
state. 1. It is immaterial. Thoughts, even about the most 
trivial objects, can never proceed from matter, be it formed, 
figured, and circumstantiated as it will. 2. Equity requires 
that men be rendered happy or miserable, according as they are 
virtuous or vicious. Since, therefore, there is so little obvious 
difference between the righteous and wicked in their present 
life in this world, there must be a future, an eternal state, in 
which every man shall receive the reward of his conduct. 3. 
The inward joys which attend virtue in this life cannot suffi- 
ciently and openly vindicate God's present form of providence, 
in prospering the wicked and afflicting the virtuous. 4. Good 
men, especially under sufferings, are encouraged in virtue 
by the prospects of a future, an eternal reward of it. 5. Hu- 
man souls being formed capable of great improvements, and 
haying an eager desire after happiness, it cannot be thought 



OF THE LAW OF NATURE. 5 

that they were thus formed merely for their transient, and al- 
most half brutal condition in this world. 6. Men have gene- 
rally, if not universally, believed the existence of a future state, 
even when it promised little happiness to themselves. On 
this belief much of their idolatry, necromancy, See. depended. 
7. Since men's consciences chiefly impress them with the appre- 
hensions of future rewards and punishments, it is inconsistent 
with God's infinite wisdom, equity, and truth, that there should 
be nothing at all answerable to these apprehensions. 8. If 
there were no future state of rewards and punishments, wicked 
men would have it in their power to rob the virtuous of much 
of their reward by quickly murdering them ; — and to prevent 
God's punishment of vice, by quickly dispatching themselves or 

their fellows in wickedness. Nor would it be proper that 

God should be obliged, by miraculous preservation, to prevent 
their robbing others of, or avoiding themselves, their corres- 
pondent reward. 

The existence of God is no less. evident than our own. 1. 
All nations, Heathens, Jews, Mahometans, and Christians, 
harmoniously consent that there is a God, who created, pre- 
serves, and governs all things. Even the most stupid Hotten- 
tots, Saldanians, Greenlanders, Kamtchatkans, and savage 
Americans, are, upon the most accurate inspection, found to be- 
lieve this. — This persuasion of the existence of God is least dis- 
cernible where, and in those, that through ignorance are almost 
similar to beasts, which plainlv manifests it to be an inseparable 
ingredient of Reason, Now, what prejudice of fear, of fan- 
cy, or of education, could answer the taste of every nation, 
every person, in every age of the world, in favour of this per- 
suasion, if it were not well founded ? How could any one Prince 
impose it on all men? Or, When and where did several princes 
meet to contrive and establish it ? Or, If princes or priests im- 
posed the belief of this on others, as a state-trick to keep them 
in awe, how came they also to believe it themselves ? 2. There 
is a natural impression of the existence of God on the minds of 
all men, i. e. an indistinct idea of a Being of infinite perfection , 
and a readiness to acquiesce in the truth or his existence, when- 
ever they understand the terms in which it is expressed. 
Whence can this impression proceed, but from the power of 
truth itself, even in the minds of such, whose affections and 
carnal interests dispose them to believe the contrary ? 3. The 
creation of all things plainly manifests the existence of God. 
The innumerable alterations and manifold dependence, every 
where observable in the world, manifest that the things which 
exist in it, neither are, nor could be, from eternity .- — It is self- 
evident, that they never could form themselves out of nothing, 



t> OF THE LAW OF NATURE. 

or in any of their respective forms : and that chance, being 
nothing but the want of design, never did, nor couid, form or 
put into order any thing, far less such a marvellous and well 
connected system as our world is. Though we should ab- 
surdly fancy matter to be eternal, yet it could not change its 
own form, or produce Life or Reason, nothing being capable 
to confer that which it hath not in itself, either formally or vir- 
tually. Moreover, when we consider the diversified and mar- 
vellous forms of creatures in the world, and how exactly their 
forms and stations correspond with their respective ends and 
uses;. — when we consider the marvellous and exact machinery, 
form, and motions of our own bodies; and especially when we 
consider the powers of our soul, — its desires after an infinite 
good, and its close union with, and incomprehensible operations 
on our bodies, we are obliged, by the light of evidence, to admit 

a Creator of infinite wisdom, and power, and goodness. 

Though we can conceive a succession, a very long succession of 
animal production, we cannot conceive how that production 
could be effected by the animals themselves, independently of 
any other; and still less, how that successive production could 
extend unto a proper eternity, or commence without the agency 
of a self-existent, self-sufficient, almighty, infinitely wise and 
benevolent Creator. — It is further observable, that a tradition 
of the Beginning of the world hath every where prevailed 
among mankind. 4. The providential upholding and govern- 
ment of all things ; — the motions of the heavenly luminaries, 
exactly calculated for the greatest advantage of our earth, and 
its inhabitants ; — the exact balancing and regulating of the me- 
teors, winds, rain, snow, hail, vapour, thunder, and the like ; — 
the regular and never-failing returns of summer and winter, 
seed-time and harvest, day and night ; — the astonishing and di- 
versified formation of vegetables; — the propagation of herbs, al- 
most* every where, that are most effectual to heal the distem- 
pers of animal bodies in that place; — the almost infinite diver- 
sification of animals and vegetables, and their pertinents, that, 
notwithstanding an amazing similarity, not an)" two are ex- 
actly alike; but every form, member, even feather or hair of 
animals, and every pile of grass, stalk of corn, herb, leaf, tree, 
berry, or other fruit, hath something peculiar to itself; — the 
making of animals so sagaciously to prepare their lodgings, de- 
fend themselves, provide for their health, produce, protect, 
and procure food for their voung ; — the direction of fishes and 
fowls to, and in such marvellous and long peregrinations, at 
such seasons, and to such places as best correspond with their 
own nreservation and the benefit of mankind : — the stationing 
of Hrute animals bv sea or land, at lesser or greater distances, 
as is most suited to the safety, subsistence, or comfort of maa- 



OF THE LAW OF NATURE. 7 

kind, — and preventing the increase of prolific animals, which 
arc hurtful, and making the less fruitful ones, which are 
useful, exceedingly to abound ; — the so diversifying the counte- 
nances, voices, and hand-writings of men, as best secures 
and promotes their social advantages ; — the holding of so equal 
a balance between males and females, while the number of 
males, whose lives are peculiarly endangered in war, naviga- 
tion, &c. is generally greatest ; — the prolonging of men's lives 
when the world needed to be peopled, and now shortening them 
when that necessity hath ceased to exist ; — the almost universal 
provision of food, raiment, medicine, fuel, &c. answerable to 
the nature of particular places, cold or hot, moist or dry ; — the 
management of human affairs relative to societies, government, 
peace, war, trade, &c. in a manner different from, and contrary 
to, the carnal policy of those concerned ; — and especially the 
strangely similar, but diversified erection, preservation, and 
government of the Jewish and Christian churches, — clearly 
manifest the existence of an infinitely wise, patient, and good 
God, who preserves and governs the world, and every thing in 
it. 5. The miraculous events which have happened in the 
world, such as the overflowing of the earth by a flood, — the con- 
fusion of languages, — the burning of Sodom and the cities 
about, by fire and brimstone from heaven, — the plagues of 
Egypt, — the dividing of the Red Sea, — raining manna from 
heaven, and bringing streams of water from flinty rocks ; — the 
stopping of the course of the sun,— quenching of the violence 
of fire, — shutting of the mouths of hungry lions, — raising of 
the dead, — healing of diseases, even the most desperate, with- 
out any application of natural remedies, — terrible apparitions in 
the air, or on the earth, before the overthrow of cities or na- 
tions, — also irrefragably demonstrate the existence of God. 6. 
His existence no less clearly appears from the exact fulfilment 
of so many, and so particularly circumstantiated predictions, 
published long before the events took place, viz. predictions 
concerning mankind in general; — the descendants of Noah, 
Lot, and Abraham ; — Canaanites, Syrians, Assyrians, Chal- 
deans, Persians, Greeks, Romans, — Arabs, Turks, Jesus 

Christ ; Antichrist ; New Testament Church. It is impos- 
sible that these predictions, which were so exactly fulfilled in 
their respective periods, and of the fulfilment of which there 
are, at present, thousands of demonstrative and sensible docu- 
ments in the world, could proceed from any but an all-seeing, 
and infinitely wise, and almighty Governor of the world. 7. 
The existence of God further appears from the fearful punish- 
ments which have been inflicted upon persons, and especially 
upon nations, when their immoralities became excessive, and 
that by very unexpected means and instruments, — as in the 
drowning of the old world, — destruction of Sodom and Gomor- 



8 OF THE LAW OF NATURE. 

rah, — plagues of Pharaoh and his servants, — overthrow of Sen- 
nacherib and his army, — miseries and ruin of the Canaanites, 
Jews, Syrians, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Persians, Egyptians, 
Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Turks, Tartars, and others. 8. The 
existence of God may be further argued from the terror and 
dread which wound the consciences of men, when guiltv of 
crimes, which other men do not know, or are not able to pu- 
nish or restrain ; as in the case of Caligula, Nero, and Domi- 
tian, Roman emperors ; and while they earnestly labour to per- 
suade themselves, or others, that there is no God. Hence their 
dread of thunder, or to be alone in the dark, &c 

This God, who maketh, upholds, and governs all things, 
must necessarily be self-existent, independent, and abso- 
lutely eternal. Being the cause of every thing besides him- 
self, he can neither be produced by them, nor depend on 
them. — As he existed before, and gave being to every one of 
them,. he must be all-sufficient in, of, and to himself, and to 
each of them. — None of them, particularly man, whose origi- 
nation is so late, — whose dependence on inferior creatures is so 
great, — whose form of body and temper of mind are so change- 
able, can profit Him, who is the Universal Maker and Mana- 
ger of all things. 

God is unchangeable. Being self-existent and absolutely 
eternal, he can have no principle of change in himself. The 
existence, essence, and agency, of all other beings, being de- 
rived from Him, none of them can, in the least, operate to- 
wards any change in, or of Him. — Without supposing Him to 
have been once deficient, and so not God, He cannot be chang- 
ed to the better: Without becoming deficient, and so ceasing 
to be God, He cannot be changed to the worse. — Both are 
equally absurd. 

God is almighty, t. He hath never shewed any mark of 
weakness. 2. He made, upholds, and governs multitudes of crea- 
tures, nay of mighty creatures. 3. By the influence of his 
power, even in an act of his will, he made all things of nothing ; 
and by it he upholds and governs them. 4. His power cannot 
be limited from within himself, as he is all-sufficient ; nor from 
without himself, as all the power of creatures proceeds from, 
and is subordinated to him, and oweth its whole efficacy in the 
production of effects to his concurrent influence. No creature 
can retain or exert any power, independently of God, without 

becoming God, and so depriving him of his godhead: and 

no effect can exist without his willing of it. 

God is infinite. 1. Being self-existent and independent, 
he is as great, in every respect, as he can he. 2. All creatures 
depending on him, none of them can set bounds to his excellen- 
cy. 3. His upholding and governing of all creatures necessari- 



OP THE LAW OP NATURE. 9 

ly requires his presence with them all, and every where. 4. 
Being from all eternity, his nature is infinite in duration, and 
so must necessarily be infinite in every other excellency. 5. 
His forming of all things from nothing, necessarily required an 
infinity of wisdom, power, and goodness ; — the distance be- 
tween nothingness and their present existence being infinite. 
— ' The belief of God's infinity, instead of discouraging, 
strongly encourageth us to the diligent contemplation of Him, 
— as much important and delightful truth concerning him, may 
be known, though he can never be fully and comprehensively 
known by us. 

God is incomprehensible in his excellency, purposes, and 
works. 1. We have but very imperfect knowledge of our- 
selves, — What our soul or our body is ; — and how the one is 
united to, or acts upon the other ; — how our ideas are treasured 
up or recollected in our memory ; — whether we always think or 
not; — how dreams are produced; — how all the difficulties re- 
lative to human liberty may be solved; — how our nerves affect 
our soul in frenzies ; — how we breathe ; — how the motion o£ 
our blood and muscles is effected, &c. Nay, we cannot so much 
as discern the inward substance, or all the properties, of any 
creatures. — How absurd then the hope to have comprehensive 
conceptions of the infinite excellencies of God ! 2. God's per- 
fections are infinitely superiour to those of creatures, even where 
there is some similarity between them* 3. In his self-existence., 
absolute eternity, omnipresence, of which we certainly know 
him to be possessed, and his being determined to act from him- 
self, God is infinitely unlike to us, as well as infinitely trans- 
cends our comprehension. 4. No reason of ours can controvert, 
but God mav have in his nature millions of excellencies or per- 
fections which are not in the least marked in his works of crea- 
tion or common providence. 

There is but one God. 1. The light of nature affords no 
marks of a plurality of Gods. 2. The remarkable unity of 
design which appears in the works of creation and providence, 
manifest, that the Creator and manager of all things is but one. 
3. As God necessarily possesseth infinite excellency, no inde- 
pendent excellency is left to any other. 4. One Being of infi- 
nite perfection being sufficient for the making and management 
of all things, — no necessary and self-existence, and so no god-v 
head, is left for another. 5. God being unchangeable, he can 
have no rival or competitor of equal power or wisdom. 

God is a Spirit possessed of an infinite understanding and 
will. 1. Of necessity it behoved him to be self-moved in the 
creation of all things. 2. The form of every creature, and of 
all taken together, plainly manifests deep thought exercised in 
the contrivance and formation of them. 3. Nothing material 

E 



10 OP THE LAW OP NATURE. 

could produce such thought, or form such thinking substances? 
as we find ourselves to be. 4. Nothing but a spiritual and in- 
corporeal substance could be every where present to uphold 
and govern all things. — Hence it follows, That though God 
may appear in a visible form, his nature is not visible, nor ought 
any human passions to be ascribed to him ; for, 1. Some pas- 
sions, as Fear or Grief, &c. imply weakness and present imper- 
fection in happiness. 2. The excitement or operation of our 
passions is inseparably connected with some commotion of our 
animal nature. 

God hath a perfect knowledge of himself and all things else. 
it He is an infinite Spirit, and therefore must have an under- 
standing infinitely extensive. 2. He makes, upholds, and go- 
verns all things, — and therefore must necessarily know his 
own fulness of excellency and influence, and their respective 
conditions, and the most proper manner of adapting his influ- 
ence* to them, answerably to their need and advantage. 3. To 
suppose him ignorant of any thing, would reflect dishonour on 
him unworthy of godhead. He knows future contingencies. 

1. If he knew them not, his wisdom and knowledge must 
be gradually enlarged, as these events shall occur, which is con- 
trary to his infinity and unchangeableness. 2, Without the ex- 
act knowledge of them, he could not have exactly foretold 
them, as he hath often done. 3. If he knew them not, his pro- 
vidential regulations concerning them, and every thing con- 
nected with them, must depend on the free will of his 
rational creatures, or even on mere chance. 4. If sagacious 
men shrewdly foresee future events, how can they be in any 
respect hid from God, our infinitely wise Maker, preserver, and 
governor ? 

God is infinitely wise. 1. In creation he hath clearly form- 
ed all things most answerable to their manifold and diversified 
ends. 2. In providence every thing is so managed, as to ac- 
complish the most important purposes, and to promote the most 
important ends : and great events are effected by the most un- 
likely means. 3. There is not the least mark of folly or weak- 
ness of judgment in any thing he doth. 

God is perfectly holy, and his nature infinitely contrary to 
all impurity and vice. 1. There is real virtue found among his 
rational creatures, which must necessarily originate from him. 

2. Holiness is the highest perfection of rational creatures, ren- 
dering them happy in themselves, and amiable and useful to 
others. 3. God, having a perfect knowledge of all the relations 
of things one to another, cannot deviate from holiness, through 
ignorance. 4. Being infinitely powerful, God hath nothing to 
deter or hinder him from the possession or pursuit of holiness. 
5. Being perfectly happy in himself, he hath nothing to expect 



OF TUP LAW OP NATURE. H 

fcy the indulgence of moral evil. 6. Having therefore no temp- 
tations to unholiness, he could not without drawing on himself 
the most uneasy reflections and the highest dishonour, alto- 
gether inconsistent with godhead, indulge it in the least, or in 
any respect deviate from moral rectitude. 

God is infinitely good and benevolent, inclined to promote 
the happiness of his creatures, in every proper form and method. 
]■ Much goodness and benevolent instinct is to be found among 
his creatures, in this world. 2. Innumerable instances of kind- 
ness to his creatures appear in his providence. 3. We know of 
no bad thing in this world, from which real good may not be 
extracted : nor have we any evidence that God would have per- 
mitted moral evil, if he had not intended to bring good out of 
it. 4. All the evil which we observe in this world, originates 
from men's abuse of the freedom of their own will. And if 
men by their own fault introduce moral evil, that penal evil, 
which follows, becomes a real good to God's creatures in gene- 
ral, — even as the punishment of malefactors is necessary for 
the real advantage of a state. 5. God may be good, nay, im 
finitely good, though he be not bound to render every creature 
happy to the uttermost. A magistrate may be very good and 
benevolent, though he do not adopt all his subjects to be his 
children or heirs. 6. Reason admits that there may be many 
and large regions of creation, perfectly free from alt evil, moral 
or penal, and that this world in its present situation is good 
enough for sinful men. 7. Benevolence and goodness, being 
the glory of rational creatures, must also be the glory of the 
godhead. 8. Being self-sufficient, God can have no reason or 
temptation to promote the causeless misery of his subjects, nor 
can his perfections and happiness admit of his having any incli- 
nation, or making any attempt towards it. 

As God's making and upholding of all things necessarily infer 
his right to be their sole supreme governor, — He is perfectly 
just in all his dealings with men. 1. He imposeth no law up- 
on them, but that which originally they had full power to obey. 
2. Equity therefore requires, that He, as their Supreme Gover- 
nor, should treat them with kindness or severity, as their vir- 
tue or their vice demands. 3. Having no temptation to it, God 
cannot act unjustly without defiling his nature, and dishonouring 
himself to the uttermost, which is absolutely incompetent with 
godhead. 4. Already, in manifold instances, we see the virtuous 
rewarded and the wicked punished. 5. Though some of God's 
dispensations of providence appear to smile on the wicked and 
frown on the virtuous, yet it must be admitted, that we often 
mistake with respect to men's real characters, and that we are 
apt to think there is a great deal more happiness in ease, wealth 
or honour, and more unhappiness in afflictions, than really is 



12 OF THE LAW OP NATURE. 

6. A future eternity of rewards or punishments may sufficient- 
ly balance any apparent inequality of providences in this life. 

God is perfectly true, sincere in all his declarations, and in- 
violably faithful to all his engagements of promises or threat- 
enings. 1. His holiness in himself, and his goodness and equity 
toward his creatures, require such candour and faithfulness. 2. 
All the sincerity, truth, and faithfulness, or disposition of heart 
or conscience to approve it, round among rational creatures, 
necessarily originate from God. 3. God hath no temptation to 
dissimulation, falsehood, or treachery; and hence could not 
indulge it in his conduct, without an inconceivable vitiosity of 
nature, absolutely inconsistent with godhead. 

From these views of the nature of God and man, and of the 
relations betwixt them, it necessarily follows, that his honour 
and our enjoyment of him ought to be aimed at as our chief 
end, in every thing we do, — in due subordination to which 
the advancement or maintenance of our own life, health, ho- 
nour, pleasure, or profit, may and ought to be intended. 

The chief good proper to be proposed for the end of our con- 
duct must necessarily be desirable in itself ; — must be complete, - 
including deliverance from all evil, and the fruition of all possible 
felicity ; — must be sufficient to satisfy all reasonable desires, and 
render its possessors perfect in every thing truly excellent ; — 
must be of infinite value and usefulness, capable to render all 
men happy at once ; — and must be evidently eternal, that there 

may be no ground to fear that it should fail or be lost. It 

is therefore manifest, that riches cannot be this chief good, as 
they are not desirable for themselves, — do not enter into our 
souls, — do not render men either virtuous or happy, — nor is the 
enjoyment of them either certain or perpetual. Nor can worldly 
honours be this chief good, — as we have not these so much in 
ourselves, as in the imagination of others ; nor doth the enjoy- 
ment of them render us either better or safer ; nor is it either 
certain or permanent. Nor can bodily pleasures be this chief 
good, — as these are often inconsistent with our true honour 
and usefulness, and enervate and corrupt our body while they 
weaken and vitiate our mind. Nor can knorvledge be this chief 
good, as, of itself, it neither renders men virtuous nor happy. 
It cannot protect from a multitude of real evils ; nor is the 
permanent continuance of it certain. Nor can even virtue itself 
be this chief good, as, though it render our mind better, and 
make us more useful in the world, it doth not exempt us from 
a multitude of real disasters, inward or outward. It there- 
fore remains, that God alone, who is infinitely perfect, — de- 
sirable in himself, — sufficient to render all rational creatures 
happy, — and is absolutely unfading and eternal, — of whom the 



OV THE LAW OP NATURE. 13 

lull enjoyment includes perfect freedom from all evil, and pos- 
session of every thing good, — and so necessarily rendtrs us per- 
fect in virtue, honour, and happiness, — must be our chief good. 

From the preceding hints concerning our own nature, and the 
nature of God, and our absolute dependence on him as our Crea- 
tor, Preserver, and Governor, — it is no less manifest, that the 
declared will of God as our moral Governor, must be the sole 
standard and rule of all our qualities and actions, religious and 
moral ; and that there can be no lawful authority in the world, 
but what is derived from him, and that no laws or engagements 
of men can bind themselves or 01 hers, but in subordination to 

his authority and will. By virtue of the perfection of his 

nature, ( iod cannot but will that we should be and act in agree- 
ableness to those relations, in which we stand connected with 
himself, or with our fellow-creatures. Such deportment is 
manifestly reasonable, comely, profitable, and honourable. 
But, some things which are verv proper and necessary in some 
circumstances, may be very unfit and even virions in other cir- 
cumstances. That which is proper in health, may be unlawful 
in trouble. That which is duty in necessary self-defence, 
may be very criminal in any other case. That which is very be- 
coming in magistrates, as enacting of laws, punishing of cri- 
minals, and raising of armies, and the like, would be very im- 
proper in private persons. This will of God manifested to 

men's reason, and representing the moral fitness of their qualities, 
thoughts, words, or actions, is called the law of nature. 
And to be and act according to it, is ordinarily called virtue, 
and to be and act contrary to it, is called vice. But some by 
virtue mean only the dutv which we owe to ourselves and 
fellow-creatures; and call the duty which we owe to God, 
religion. 

To render any of our actions truly virtuous, l.We must have 
a knowledge of the moral fitness of things, and even of the 
moral fitness of that particular act. 2. We must have a formed 
design to act according to that moral fitness, from regard to the 
authority of God. 3. The act must be performed freely and of 
choice, and with affection and delight. 4. A good act performed, 
notwithstanding much opposition, is not a little virtuous; but it 
is most virtuous, when there is no inward opposition at all made 
to the performance of it. 5. The less selfish our views be, in 
performing good acts, and the more regard to the authority 
and honour of God and the real good of our fellow-creatures, 

they are the more virtuous. Thus, to constitute an act truly 

virtuous, it must originate from a virtuous principle or habit, 
be influenced by right motives, performed in a right manner, 
and directed to a right end. 



14 OF THE LAW OF NATUBE. 

The principal exercises of religion, or virtue, respecting 
God, which the law of nature requires, are, 1. To contemplate 
him as the reason and pattern of our conduct. 2. To adore him 
with our soul and body, as one possessed of infinite perfection. 
3. To love him as one infinitely amiable and benevolent. 4. To 
observe and acknowledge his manifold and diversified provi- 
dences, and act answerably to them. 5. To acquiesce in the 
whole of his will as wise and good. 6. To consider and trust 
in his power, wisdom, and goodness. 7. To be chiefly careful 
to please him, and to imitate him in his moral excellencies, who 
is infinitely perfect in himself, and on whose favour and the en- 
joyment of him, our true happiness wholly depends. 8. Cor- 
dially to listen to, believe, receive and obey every further de- 
claration of his will, which he is pleased to make to us. 

Virtue respecting men is either personal or social. In per- 
sonal virtue, I. Great care must be taken to fill our mind 
with useful knowledge. II. In order to prevent both moral 
and penal evil, we ought frequently to examine and consider 
our circumstances and conduct. III. We must never allow our 
body to want any thing that is necessary for its real preserva- 
tion and welfare, and never indulge it in any excess of meat, 
drink, ease, or pleasure. — Self-murder, whether it be instan- 
taneous or gradual, directly or indirectly committed, hath a 
dreadful criminality it. It implies the want of all proper re- 
verence of God, the Lord of our life. It injures the church, or 
state, by robbing it of a member, and introducing a pernicious 
example. It entails distress and infamy upon living relations. 
It manifests a mind shamefully weak and incapable of bearing 
adversity ; and dying in an act odious to God, we presumptu- 
ously rush on eternal misery. No intention of thereby avoid- 
ing torture, disgrace, or lascivious rapes can excuse it. Patient 
enduring of torture or disgrace, in a good cause, is a glorious in- 
stance of virtue ; patient bearing of them in the just punishment 
of our crimes, is a debt which we owe to the laws, the justice, 
and the welfare of our country. The suffering of a real rape 
hurts neither our conscience nor our character ; and therefore 
ought to be borne as a trial of virtue. Gluttony in eat- 
ing too much, — in eating without proper appetite, — in eating 
with too much greed or delight, — or indulging improper in- 
clinations towards delicacies, — is a most beastly vice, in 
which men live as if they were destitute of souls, — gradually 
murder their bodv, — stupifv their mind, — abuse their food, to the 
dishonour of God, the bestower of it, — and rob the poor and 
their relations, of that which was laid out to gratify their lust. 

Drunkenness, in the too indulgent, too frequent, or too 

extensive use of intoxicating liquor, includes every evil of glut^ 
tony. It also produceth furious passions, improper discoveries 



OF THE LAW OP NATURE. 15 

ccrets, reproach of neighbours, reviling or affronting of God 
and religion. It leads to profane swearing, cursing, quarrelling, 
uncleanness, dishonesty, and murder. IV. Great care ought to 
be taken for the proper management of our passions, which are 
merely natural, and for the mortification of those that are vi- 
tious. These passions include, 1. Admiration, which is ex- 
cited by things apprehended as marvellous or rare. It is useful, 
when it leads to meditation and cordial choosing of God ;— 
when it imprints the remembrance of useful things on our mind, 
— or disposeth us to an earnest application to proper studies. 
But it is hurtful, when it is excessive ; — when it leads to 
the choice of insignificant trifles, or of any thing before due 
examination of it ; — when it hinders our application to more 
useful objects or exercises ; — or when we admire ourselves, or 
admire even useful things, chiefly for their novelty. 2. Love, 
which disposeth our heart towards union with, kindness to, and 
delight in its objects. It fixeth only on such persons or things, 
as, and in so far as, we apprehend them agreeable, and so ren- 
ders our soul courageous and pleased in the prosecution of its 
purposes. But it becometh criminal, when we esteem, desire, 
or delight in creatures, more, or as much as, in God himself; or 
in a manner which tends to lessen our love to him, or, as if 
they were any part of our chief good ; — or, when bad things are 
loved ; or good things, more than is meet ; — or, when it hin- 
ders our impartial examination of ourselves, or makes us over- 
value that which belongs to us; when it tempts us to procurt* 
that which we think good for ourselves, at the expense of our 
neighbours; or renders us too indulgent of our own desires, and 
too susceptible of flattery from others. Love to our neighbours, 
when fixed and mutual, is called friendship, which mightily 
promotes reciprocal sympathy, assistance, supply, and comfort. 
As it ought to be founded upon clear conviction of proper ex- 
cellency and usefulness, we ought never to choose any for our 
friends, who are unknown, impious, debauched, outrageous, lo- 
quacious, selfish, covetous, ambitious, luxurious, inconstant, 
contentious, quarrelsome, or whimsical. And, when we have 
fixed on friends, we ought to rejoice in their welfare, approve 
them in every thing laudable, indulge them in every thing safe, 
readily offer them our best advice and assistance, whenever it is 
necessary, study to please them in all things lawful, carefully 
keep their secrets, kindly and seasonably warn them of their 
dangers, faithfully reprove their faults, judge very charitably of 
all their actions, never unnecessarily complain of them to others, 
especially behind their back, — and never neglect or contemn old 
friends for the sake of new ones. Love of glory or pow- 
er, when it exceeds due bounds, is called Jlmbition, which, by 
feeding on airy applause, renders men proud ; frequently pro- 



16 OF THE LAW OF NATURE. 

duceth contentions, and leads to base, cruel, or fraudulent methods 
of obtaining the things desired. Excessive love of riches in stu- 
dying to obtain them, is called Avarice ; and in retaining or them. 
is called churlishness. In either of these forms it placeth them 
in God's room, marks discontentment with his providence, in- 
jures our neighbour, taking or withholding his right from him, 
torments and enslaves our own soul, opposeth all proper love to 
God, or trust in him, and all love and equity towards our neigh- 
bour ; and hence produceth much folly and ruin. Love of 

corporeal, or even intellectual pleasure, when it exceeds due 
bounds, marks great pride, selfishness, and meanness of spirit, 
and often issueth in fearful mischief to ourselves, or our neigh- 
bours. 3, 4, 5, 6. Joy and grief, hope and fear, — which are 
virtuous, when they are fixed on proper objects, and duly pro- 
portioned to them. 7. Pity to the distressed, which originates 
from mistakes of that which these objects endure, or from a 
natural tenderness of constitution, or from true love and friend- 
ship ; — and is only virtuous, when it leads us to sympathize 
with proper objects, to help and comfort them in a proper 
manner. 8. Shame, which proceeds from fear of blame or con- 
tempt — and is virtuous, when it disposeth us to blush on ac- 
count of that which is sinful, indiscreet, imprudent, or unsuit- 
able to our character and circumstances in the world, — and 
when it makes us diligent in well-doing, and cheerful in neces- 
sary suffering for righteousness sake. 9. Emulation, which is 
good in so far as it means a desire to be equal, and superiour to 
others, in virtuous tempers or actions; — but is most wicked and 
abominable, in so far as it means an envying or grieving at the 
virtue, honour, wealth, pleasure, or other advantages, of our 
neighbours, — as it improves the honour or happiness of others, 
as a mean of tormenting ourselves, — condemns God's most holy, 
■wise, just, and good distribution of his favours, — wastes our na- 
tural constitution, and tempts us to murder ourselves or others, 
&c. 10. Hatred, unless in so far as it is fixed upon sin as its 
object, is the reverse of God's infinite benevolence, banisheth 
love, meekness, humility and patience, from our heart ; and it 
is a fearful source of our contempt, reproach, and murder, of 
our neighbour. 11. Resentment of indignities done to God, 
or of injuries done to churches or nations, answerable to our 
stations, and conducted in a proper manner, is good ; but re- 
sentment of private injuries, real or supposed, manifests much 
weakness and baseness of spirit, fills our mind with tormenting 
fears, cares, and contrivances ; — robs us of the delightful plea- 
sure and high honour, of forgiving affronts and injuries, and of 
returning good for evil, and often hurrieth us into fearful dis- 
orders and dangers. 12. Anger is criminal, when ft is not di- 
rected against, and exercised in a manner destructive to vice ; 



OF THE LAW OP NATURE. 17 

and especially when it kindles into wrath, rage, and fury. — 
Sinful anger originates from pride, suspicious humour, excessive 
credulity, selfish and carnal affections— and it discomposeth our 
mind, and disfigures our body, and being awakened by mere 
trifles, it frequently issueth in murder, blasphemy, and like 
horrible mischiefs. 13. Pride, if placed among the passions, 
is a most mischievous one. It can take occasion, from virtue, 
or anv other good thing, as well as from ignorance and self-love, 
to exercise itself. It disposeth us to exalt ourselves at the ex- 
pence of our neighbours, and even of God himself, and to at* 
tempt to pull down every opposer, — and strongly tempts to 
rashness, errour, insolence, wilfulness, presumption, despair, and 

even self-murder. Wilfulness, is that form of pride, through 

which we obstinately adhere to persons, principles, or practices, 
without any consciousness of their excellency. It is always vi- 
tions, manifesting much ignorance and self-conceit, and ordina- 
rily disposing men to a malicious persecution of their opponents. 
V. In order to prevent the hurt of our soul or body from idle* 
ness, we ought always to choose and diligently employ ourselves 
in some honest and useful business, answerable to our circum- 
stances of knowledge, ability, wealth, and inclination ; and cal- 
culated to promote the honour of God, and the real happiness 
of our neighbours around. VI. To prevent our rashly engag- 
ing in arduous or dangerous enterprizes, — vain expectation of 
excessive regard from others, and immoderate sense of injuries 
received, — -we ought carefully to cultivate an humble opinion of 
ourselves ; and, for^this purpose, frequently and seriously to 
ponder our own wants, weaknesses, follies, and faults. — — • 
These six Rules represent the personal virtues of Prudence, 
Consideration, Temperance, Chastity, Fortitude, Contentment, 
Meekness, Moderation, Diligence, and Humility. 

Social virtue consists, 1. In carefully forbearing, prevent- 
ing, or removing, every thing that may be grievous or hurtful 
to our fellow-creatures, except when it is necessary to promote 
some greater good. 2. In earnestly labouring, in our respec- 
tive stations, to promote their real welfare.— This virtue is 
called disinterested, when we prefer the advantage of others 
to our own. 

Humanity towards brutes, in carefully forbearing every 
form or degree of cruelty to them, is implied in social vir- 
tue. In this we imitate God, who is good to all, and shew a 
proper regard to his creatures, and our fellow-partakers of his 
bounty in creation and providence. We may, nevertheless, in 
a duly tender manner, kill these animals for our own nourish- 
ment. 1. The happiness of men, who are more important ani- 

F 



18 OP THFi LAW 01' NATURE. 

inals, is hereby promoted. 2. By this means these slaughtered 
animals obtain a more quick and easy death. 3. To balance 
that pain which they suffer from men in their death, many 
of them are treated more kindly and nourished more delicately, 
in order to render them more agreeable food. 4. By in- 
crease of eatable animals, and giving their flesh so agreea- 
ble a relish to our taste, God seems to indicate the lawful- 
ness of our killing them for food. 5. If none of them were 
killed for food to man, their excessive increase might deprive 
us of other means of our subsistence, and even endanger our 
health and life. 

But social virtue much more strongly requires kindness to- 
ward men, in doing every thing which can promote their life 
or health, except when the public welfare requires particular 
persons to be punished. 1. Human life is too valuable to be 
taken away, without a reason more honourable to God the 
giver, and more advantageous to the public, which is in- 
terested in it, than the preservation of it could be.. 2. Natu- 
ral instinct, if not terribly debauched, shrinks with horror 
from shedding of human blood without absolute necessity. 

3. No man, except in a frenzy, wishes his own life or health 
taken from him. 4. The taking away our neighbour's life un- 
justly, robs his relations and neighbours of the important advan- 
tages which they might have received from the preservation of 
it. 

Social virtue requires equity towards all men, in doing to 
them every thing respecting their property, as we could reason- 
ably wish they would do unto us in similar circumstances. But 
here it must be remarked, l.That before property be fixed by 
any possession or agreement, every man may justly claim that 
which he first finds. And, if there be not enough to satisfy all, 
the fust seizer ought to give portions to those that need them. 
And, if necessary supplies be denied to any one, he may justly 
take a necessary portion from the present possessors. 2. Equa- 
lity of wealth is in no respect necessary among mankind. Par- 
ticular persons ought to reap the fruits of their lawful care and 
industry. And, it is not for the hurt, but for the advantage, of 
the public, that some be richer than others. 3. Any persons 
may, as they have need or opportunity, seize on things which 
are still common, as light, air, sea-water, wild beasts, or the 
like ; or which have been abandoned by the former proprietors. 

4. In ordinary cases, antiquated claims ought not to be revived, 
as it tends to produce contention, perjury, and war. Nor is a 
man faulty in holding the property of another, which upon pre- 
scription or other probable grounds, he thought to be his own, 
till he find the contrary clearly evinced. 

Social virtue requires the strictest regard to truth and 
candour in all our conduct. Our thoughts, words, and act. 



Ok' THE LAW OF NATURE. V) 

lions ought exactly to correspond with each other, as well 
as with their objects. 1. Exact adherence to truth in our 
words much promotes mutual trust and happiness among men. 
2. Without truth in our words, speech becomes unsuitable, use- 
less, and ensnaring. 3. Lying, falsehood, and even ambiguity 
of speech or behaviour, have always been held infamous by all 

good men. In no case doth the law of nature allow of ly- 

ing, as it is contrary to the nature and honour of God, and the 
safety and happiness of mankind ; were it allowed in any one 
instance, dissimulation, fraud, perjury, &c. mu6t be allowed in 
other instances. 

It therefore follows, that our promises ought to he carefully 
and exactly yerf owned. 1. Truth and candour require that we 
should really intend doing every thing to which we engage. 
12. They to whom any thing is promised, thereby acquire a right 
to it. 3. They cannot therefore honestly be deprived of it with- 
out their own free consent. 4. If property, depending on promi- 
ses uttered, written, sworn, or sealed, were held uncertain, it 
would introduce the most perplexing confusion, and would ruin 
-all mutual trust among men. 5. Breach of our promises tempts 
our neighbours to suspect that we were not candid in making 
them, or that we are very inconstant in our temper and re- 
solutions, and so hurts our character and usefulness in the 
world. But, if our promises have been obtained by fraudu- 
lent imposition, they are not in every case binding. And pro- 
mises made by persons destitute of the due exercise of rea- 
son, or which engage to any thing sinful, are never binding. 

The violation of promises and oaths to men, or vows to God, 
is exceedingly criminal. 1. It is a horrid abuse of that authority 
deputed to us by God, in the exertion of which we make our 
promises, oaths, and vows. 2. It pours the highest contempt on 
God, to whom vows are made, and who is solemnly stated the 
witness and guarantee of oaths ; — and renders a solemn ordi- 
nance of his own the mean of basely affronting him. 3. If 
perjury were once allowed, all mutual faith and trust among 
men would soon be utterly ruined. 4. Perjured persons have 
always, among all nations, been held the pests and scandals of 
human societies. And no less can we reckon those who, by 
artful dissimulation, evade the charge of bribery or perjury, in 
the election of officers or governors in commonwealths j or 
who, in churches, solemnly avouch or subscribe Articles and 
Confessions of faith, without believing or maintaining the whole 

doctrines therein contained. But, if a promise or covenant 

be conditional, an essential breach of it by one party frees the 
other from his obligation. 



28 OP THE LAW OF NATURE. 

Social virtue requires the propagation of mankind only in 
a married state. 1. If women were common, it would pre-i 
vent all tender and faithful friendship between the sexes, and 
degrade them to beasts. %. It would occasion much jealousy 
and strife. 3. It would much counteract the propagation and 
health of children. 4. It would expose women with child to 
great danger and distress. 5. Proper provision for, and the 
regular education of children, would be neglected, and they left 
to perish, or at best to grow up as wild savages. 6. No pro- 
perty could be bequeathed by fathers to children, and thus a 
notable encouragement and spur to sobriety and honest indus-r 
try would be removed. 

Hence it follows, that every form of fleshly lust, which tends 
to prevent or dishonour marriage, ought to be detested and 
mortified as highly criminal, — as dishonourable to God who 
made us, and to our souls, bodies, and characters, — as a 
source of the prodigal dissipation of our substance,— an indi- 
rect murder of ourselves and our posterity, — an occasion of 
strife and hatred among accomplices in wickedness, — a griev- 
ous and irreparable injury to them and their friends with 
whom unchastity is committed ; — a most effectual mean of 
rendering our souls stupid, atheistical, or idolatrously at- 
tached to filthy objects. In ahultery men commit the 

most criminal dishonesty, in depriving their neighbour of that 
which is most dear, precious, and honourable to him; — in- 
volve themselves in a most vile and perjurious breach of 
marriage-vows, — introduce disorder and confusion into fami- 
lies, — and tempt to the commission of idolatry, murder, and 
every thing horridr— In civilized nations,it hath been punished 
with death ; and indeed, as it entangles two at once in a crime 
so ruinous to their souls, bodies, and families, it is in some re-, 
spects worse than murder itself. 

As it therefore follows, that married persons ought earnest- 
ly to promote the happiness of their yoke-fellows and children, 
none ought to have more than one wife or husband at the 
same time. 1. As God, in his providence, always maintains 
so near an equality in the number of males and females among 
mankind, polygamy must occasion castration, self-pollution, 
sodomy, bestiality, or the like abominable conduct, wherever 
it much obtains. 2. It promotes contention among those 
who affect a plurality of wives, in their respective families. 
3. Continued succession of new amours hinders the affections 
of husbands from duly fixing on their wives. 4. Multiplicity 
of wives prevents that propagation of mankind which is neces- 
sary to their common welfare. Solomon, by all his thousand^ 
appears to have had very few children. 



OP THE LAW OF NATURE. 31 

Marriage being a transaction of great importance, on which 
the welfare of persons, families, and nations, and even the hap- 
piness of the future state, so much depends, ought never to be 
contracted, 1. By such as, on account of their non-age, or 
from want of the exercise of their reason, cannot perform the 
duties of marriage : nor, 2. By such as are incapable of pro- 
creation, unless with such as are in the like condition : nor, 
S. By those that are infected with such loathsome distempers 
as would probably be communicated to, and injure their yoke- 
fellows or their children : nor, 4. By those that are already 
married to another, or that have no proper certainty of their 
former partner's death or wilful desertion : nor, 5. By those 
that are too near of kin, — as this would confound the duties 
of preceding relations, — prevent the extension of friendship in 
the world,— and produce various other improprieties. 

As children have so much dependence on parents, — and as 
the happiness of the parties and their offspring so much de- 
pend on the propriety of their marriage-connection, none ought 
to enter into it without consulting their parents, if alive, and 
obtaining their consent. And, as marriage can never be dis- 
solved but by death, or on account of adultery or wilful de- 
sertion, none ought to be forced into it by parents or others, — 
or to enter into it without great deliberation and solemn con- 
sulting of God, the supreme and general Parent of mankind. 

Social virtue requires the most tender and natural affec- 
tion among those who are related to one another. — Parents 
ought tenderly and carefully to educate their children, that they 
may honour God, and be useful to mankind. And, if possible, 
mothers ought to suckle their own children. 1. Children when 
young cannot provide for themselves, and so must perish, if 
parents neglect them. 2. The more carefully children are edu- 
cated, the more ready are they to love, obey, and be an honour 
and comfort to their parents. 3. Careful and prudent education 
of children is of great importance to the public welfare of the 
church and nation. 4. The education of children, when it is 
wholly trusted to others, is very often fearfully neglected. — 
Children ought to be portioned according to their apparent 
merit, rather than according to their age. — It is absurd, that 
one child should carry off almost the whole of his parents' pro- 
perty, for no other reason but because he is a male, or came 
into the world some months before the rest. — —In ordinary 
cases, an eldest son may have the largest portion, as it is ex- 
pected that he will have most skill to manage it, and will be 
a protector and director to the rest of the children. But, if he 
be notoriously wicked, he should be disinherited, — it being un- 
reasonable that an inheritance should be put into his hands.,, 



22 UF THJS LAW OF NATURE. 

while it is most probable that he will use it to his own ruin. 

To mark their gratitude and respect to parents, as the 

representatives of God to them, children ought to love them 
affectionately, — reverence and honour them, — obey all their 
lawful commands, — consult them in every matter of import- 
ance, — -and, if needful, supply their wants. 

Servants in families ought to be considered as secondary 
children, — and have due instruction, wages, and kind and affa- 
ble entertainment ; and they ought to reverence and obey their 
masters, and to be faithful and diligent in their service. 
Persons who are justly condemned to slavery, as a punishment 
of their dishonesty or other crimes, may be lawfully bought 
for slaves : and prisoners may be bought from conquerors, if 
it be in order to preserve their lives. But to make war upon 
neighbours, or encourage others to it, in order to procure 
slaves, — or to trade in buying slaves, — is altogether unmerci- 
ful, and shocking to right reason and humanity, — natively en- 
tailing upon these merchants the blood of the souls and bodies 
of their fellow-creatures. 

To promote the happiness of mankind it is necessary that they 
form themselves into civil societies. 1. Controversies con- 
cerning property or injurious conduct may happen between dif- 
ferent families, which need to be determined. 2. Hence some 
general rules of determination must be established. 3. These 
contests ought to be determined by one or more judges or arbi- 
ters, unbiassed to either party. 4. These judges ought to have 
authority and power in their hand sufficient to enforce a proper 
compliance with their decisions. — In forming these civil socie- 
ties and their government, it is natural to think, 1. Parents, ori- 
ginally, were the sole governors, under God, of their children, 
mediate or immediate. This is the only form of government, 
which is merely natural. 2. No man being naturally any part 
of inheritance, the government of younger children could not 
necessarily devolve upon the eldest son. 3. Each family there- 
fore became a small sovereignty or state by itself, in which pa- 
rents were governors. 4. In order to an amicable decision of 
contests between families, several of them formed themselves 
Into larger societies. 5. Disputes between lesser societies intro- 
duced a coalescence of several of them into one. 6. It thus be- 
came necessary that power and authority should be lodged in 
the hand of some general arbiter of their differences, — to 
whom, if he managed well, they all gradually submitted. 7. In 
submitting themselves to one or more, who had no natural 
right to govern them, men, no doubt, demanded from these 
rulers, an engagement to protect them in their lives, liberties, 



OP TUB LAW OF NATL 111 23 

and property* 8. If ambitious persons, by force or fraud, 
obtained this governing power, the submitters, no doubt, 
insisted on the best terms for their obedience, which they could 
obtain from their conquerors. Hence some original contract 
between governors and governed, expressed or understood, is 
the foundation of all government among men, that of parents 
over their children only excepted. And nothing can be more 
absurd than claims of indefeasible right to supreme power, in- 
vested in eldest, or other sons, in any families whatsoever, 
or of absolute power to dispose of the property, lives, or liber- 
ties of others of mankind. 

God, as Creator and Governor of the world, is the author of 
all civil government. Nor have either subjects or magistrates 
the smallest degree of liberty or power, but what they derive 
from him, and for which they must be accountable to him. 
Not, therefore, the will of subjects, or the consciences of ma- 
gistrates, but the Law of God, as Supreme Governor, must be 
the real stundard of all laws enacted by men. — Nor must men's 
civil interests, but the glory of God, as Founder and Supreme 
Governor of nations, be intended as their chief end, in all civil 
subjection and government. To maintain the contrary, ne- 
cessarily involves in the depths of atheism. 

All men being naturally born in a state of equal freeddm, none 
of them can be bound to submit to the laws of their country, 
any further than these are calculated to promote the general 
welfare of their society, in subordination to the glory of God. 1. 
None but God hath any natural right to rule over any such so- 
ciety. None but he hath any just claim to absolute power in go- 
verning. None hath any real power but what is derived from 
him, — or any power to enact any statutes contrary to his bene- 
volent law. 2. Few parents would, by voluntary contract, bind 
either themselves or their children to an unlimited subjection 
to men ; and if they did, the contract could not be valid, as they 
have no power to make any such disposal of themselves or their 
children, — no power to dispose of either the lives or liberties 
of children. 

If, therefore, magistrates command that which is prejudicial to 
the general welfare of the society, or dishonourable to God, the 
Supreme Governor of it, they ought to be disobeyed. And, if 
they be habitually cruel and tyrannical, they ought to be resist- 
ed and deposed, if circumstances permit. 1. When the great 
body of the subjects are much alienated in affection, a re- 
volution may be accomplished without much hazard or hurt. 
2. By resisting tyrannical princes, in proper circumstances, na- 
tions have often preserved their lives as well as their liberties 
from impending ruin. 3. Such resistance, prudently managed, 
is an effectual warning to other magistrates to beware of abus^- 






24 OF THE LAW OF NATURE. 

ing atid oppressing their subjects. 4. In mixed forms of go- 
vernment, the propriety of resistance is most clear as well as 
most easy '• as, when a parliament resists a king, or a king re- 
sists a parliament, in defence of the common liberties of the na- 
tion. — Nevertheless, as princes are exposed to many and un- 
common difficulties, and are apt to be imposed on by their con- 
fidents ; — and as their real designs are not easily penetrated, 
and often not to be pryed into by their subjects ;— and as resis- 
tance ordinarily occasions much bloodshed and misery ,^-sub- 
jects ought to put the best construction upon the conduct of 
their governors that it can justly admit, — and never proceed to 
violent measures but where it is absolutely necessary, and where 
there is an hopeful prospect of success. 

In some cases, conquest may confer, or contribute to con- 
firm, civil authority. 1. Kings, to prevent perpetual wars with 
some neighbouring princes, may subdue a particular coun- 
try ; but, till the inhabitants have directly or indirectly engag- 
ed themselves, they are not bound to submit. 2. To prevent 
more misery and bloodshed, a conqueror may be lawfully sub- 
mitted,^, till the rightful prince become capable to assert his 
own rights : but imposition of oaths of fidelity or allegiance 
in such cases, fearfully ensnares men's consciences, and rarely 
proves of any advantage to the interests of the imposers. 3. 
When rightful princes long neglect to assert their own claims, 
permanent possession and tame subjection confer a kind of right 
on conquerors and their successors, — that nations may not be 
ruined by once regnant families renewing their antiquated 
claims. 4. In ordinary cases, conquerors ought to restore 
what they have conquered to the rightful sovereigns, when 
they have wrested it from such as had formerly seized it 
by violence or fraud. 5. Nothing is more absurd, than to 
detest and punish petty thefts or personal injuries, and yet ap- 
prove or extol the robbing, enslaving, or murdering of nations. 

Except in the case of the Jewish nation, God permits civil 
societies to establish what particular form of government they 
find most agreeable to their circumstances, if it be not contrary 
to his law. But no particular form now in being is absolutely 
perfect. If kings were perfectly wise and virtuous, absolute 
monarchy, in which their will is the only rule of government, 
would be best. But, as the most of men in high stations are very 
imperfect, and none of them faultless, it would be unsafe to 
lodge so much power in one man : Hence oppression and tyranny 

have generally prevailed, wherever it hath been attempted. 

Aristocracy, in which some few principal men have the whole 

power in their hand, and democracy, in which adult males 

in general bear rule, — leave too much room for cabals of crafty 
men, — render the despatch of business too slow, the affairs of 



OF THE LAW OP NATURE. 25 

government too open, — and the cure of contentions very diffi- 
cult. Mixed monarchy, in which king, nobles, and com- 
mons, have their joint shares in the government, therefore, 
seems best. And, as election of kings, though it might some- 
times prevent the advancement of improper persons, would af- 
ford much occasion for cabals and factions, — a limited succession 
is in many cases preferable to it. As the arbitrary and occa- 
sional will of imperfect governors would be an extremely pre- 
carious and unsafe standard of government, all civilized socie- 
ties have, in or after their establishment, formed laws by which 
they incline to be ruled. Of human laws the most remarkable 
are, l.The Law of Nations, containing those regulations which 
are tacitly adopted by all civilized societies ; as, That no am- 
bassador ought to be ill used, — no prisoners killed, but ex- 
changed or ransomed,— and no women, children, or other un- 
armed persons, to be abused or killed in time of war, — and 
should also bear, that no private property, except warlike stores, 
should be seized. 2. Laws of Shipping, relative to landing, 
sailing, loading, or unloading contraband goods, hoisting or 
striking of colours, &c. 3. The Civil Law, which comprehends 
the statutes once of public and permanent authority in the Ro- 
man empire. 4. The Feudal Law, introduced by the conquering 
Goths into a great part of Europe, for regulating superiorities, 
vassalages, and the like. 5. National Laws of France, Spain, 
England, Scotland, &c. consisting of public immemorial cus- 
toms, and statutes of the supreme courts of judicature. 6. Mu- 
nicipal Laxvs, regulating the immunities of cities and burghs. 

7. Society Laws, regulating the privileges and mutual behaviour 
of merchants, craftsmen, or the like. — To which we may add, 

8. The Canon Law, formed from the decisions of ancient doc- 
tors, and of popes and councils, for the regulation of the Ro- 
mish church, — even as the Talmud, formed from the dictates 
of their ancient Rabbins, is canon law to the modern Jews. 

9. Protestant Ecclesiastical Laivs, comprehending their Con- 
fessions, Articles, Formulas, Canons, Acts of Assemblies, &c. 
which become civil laws, in so far as they are adopted by the 

supreme authority of States. As none of these human laws 

reach the inward dispositions of men's hearts, — few of them 
have any rewards, and none of them any rewards or punishments 
of a spiritual or eternal nature annexed to them, — they must all 
be of infinitely less importance than, and subordinated to, the 
law of nature, which proceeds immediately from God himself, 
and are to be obeyed only in so far as consistent with it. 

Human life being very precious, and the loss of it irrecoverable, 
capital punishments ought never to inflicted, when others are 
adequate to the crime, or can answer the great end of the glory 
of God in the general advantage of the societv. But some ma- 

G 



26 OF THE LAW OF NATURE. 

lefactors ought to be punished with death. 1. If the common 
tranquillity ought to be carefully preserved, notorious disturbers 
of it must be cut off. 2. Notwithstanding of capital punish- 
ments threatened or inflicted, some wickedly commit the most 
shocking enormities against the welfare of their state, and the 
honour of God, its Supreme Governor. 3. No loss of pro- 
perty, liberty, or honour, is adequate to the criminal depriv- 
ing others of their precious life, &c. 4. If the more shocking 
enormities were not sevsrely punished, the commission would 

become more and more frequent. Hence the execution 

of malefactors ought to be as public and solemn as possible, 
in order more effectually to deter others from the like crimes. 
— It is even sometimes necessary, that innocent persons should 
suffer in their honours and estates along with the guilty. — For the 
security of nations, and the more effectually to deter others from 
such wickedness, the children of traitors maybe deprived of their 
parents' estates, that thus they may be impressed with the treason, 
and disabled from avenging the traitor's death on the nation. 

In necessary self-defence men have a right to kill their as- 
sailants. But Duelling is unlawful and murderous, a remain 
of the ancient Gothic barbarity. Men by it discover the most 
abominable pride and passion,— presumptuously usurp the pow- 
er of the civil magistrate in avenging themselves, and madly 
risk their own death and damnation, in attempting to murder 
their neighbour, or even friend. 

In no case ought men to deprive their neighbour of his life, 
and plunge him into an eternity, perhaps of inexpressible misery, 
if, consistent with equity and the public welfare, it can be 
avoided. But in some cases War is lawful and necessary, upon 
one side, though never on both. 1. Some men are so unjust 
that there is no securing our own property or life, but by 
opposing force to force. 2. Violent injurers of others being 
public pests of society, their restraint or destruction be- 
comes necessary, not only for securing our own life and 
property, but also to prevent their injuring or murdering of 
others. — Though war ought never to be undertaken without 
urgent necessity, when the matter in dispute is of great im- 
portance in itself, or in its consequences, — and never till after 
the most earnest attempts to retain or recover our property 
by milder methods ; — yet it may be sometimes lawful to take 
arms before we are attacked, and over-run the country of our 
implacable opponent, in order to render him incapable of fur- 
ther mischief,— -even as we may bind a madman before he hath 
actually hurt us. Nay, it may be lawful for private persons to 
take arms of their own accord, in case of invasions or sudden 
assaults ; or when the force of public laws is suspended by pub- 
lic confusions. But as wars are always unlawful and mur- 



0F THE LAW OF NATURE. 27 

derous, upon one side, and frequently on both, no man ought to 
assist in war without an impartial examination and weH-ground- 
ed satisfaction concerning its lawfulness. No command of su- 
periours can sanctify rage and murder : Nay, even in lawful 
war, violence and bloodshed ought to be avoided as far as can 
possibly consist with the good end proposed ; — and, though it 
may be lawful to impose on an enemy by feigned inarches, 
declining of battle, or other doubtful acts, it is always unlawful to 
deceive him by lies, false promises, or oaths. — But to violate 
truces, treaties, safe conduct, or injure ambassadors or mes- 
sengers; — and to hire any to betray or assassinate their princes 
or generals, or to disclose their secrets, is base and wicked, and 
often tends to prolong the war, or render it more furious. 

As magistrates derive their whole power and authority from 
God himself, and arc bound, as his deputies, to exercise it for 
his honour and the welfare of their nation in subordination to 
it, they cannot lawfully establish any religion but that which is 
of God, — they cannot authoritatively tolerate a false reli- 
gion, which at once robs, affronts, and blasphemes God, the 
King of nations, draws down his wrath upon the encouragers 
and embracers of it, corrupts the morals and disturbs the peace 
of the nation, — any more than they can lawfully authorize ca- 
lumny, theft, murder, adultery, or the like. But, by their 

own eminently virtuous example, by proper encouragement 
of orthodox and faithful teachers, and by enacting of prudent 
and good laws in its favour, they ought to promote the open 
profession and practice of the true religion in their domi- 
nions, and to restrain, or even seasonably and suitably punish 
any open affront to it. Nevertheless, they ought never to 
force men to religious acts, especially such as suppose real 
saintship, by any civil penalties. 1. Real religion doth not 
chiefly consist in external performances, but in the proper 
frame and exercise of the heart. 2. Such convulsive force, in- 
stead of convincing men of the truth, hardens them against 
conviction, and prevents impartial examination. .3. It cannot 
therefore render men truly religions, but only base dissemblers 
in religion. 4. It is hurtful to society. It obliges those that 
are conscientiously persuaded of the propriety of that which is 
contrary to the will of the magistrate, either to endure the 
stings of their own conscience, if they comply, or to see them- 
selves and their families ruined, if they do not. — It prejudices 
others in favour of the prosecuted, as if no other argument than 
violence could be produced against their opinions. And this 
is apt to increase their adherents, if not to create public disor- 
ders, and revolutions in the state. 

In order to a general promotion of religion and virtue, all 
men ought earnestly to addict themselves to, 1. An attentive 






28 OF THE LAW OP NATURE. 

reading, hearing, and meditating upon the nature of God and 
men, and of the connections between them, as they have oppor- 
tunity afforded them. 2. The utmost regularity and reverence 
in their external worshipping of God, which mark their own 
regard to him, and stir up others to the like. 3. The most sin^ 
cere and fervent prayer to God, that he would teach, incline, 
and enable them to a right performance of their duty. 4. A re- 
ligious assembling together in the social worship of God, cor-^ 
responding to their social temper of mind, and that at proper 
times, fixed either by God himself, or by their common consent, 
that no civil business may hinder or disturb such associations. 
5. All, in their particular relations and circumstances, as men y 
7oomen, husbands, wives, parents, children, brothers, sisters f 
masters, servants, magistrates, subjects, teachers, taught, law- 
yers, physicians, soldiers, craftsmen, merchants, — rich or 
poor, noble or ignoble, — nutives or strangers, — old or young, 
prosperous or ajjlicted in soul, body, property, or relations, — 
ought with great attention to fulfil those duties which particu- 
larly correspond with their diversified conditions. 6. The pre- 
sent and future advantages of religion and virtue, and the dis^ 
advantages of vice, ought carefully to be pondered, and deeply 
laid to heart. 

In this life, the circumspect cultivation of religion and virtue 
promotes men's health and honour, and their after reflections 
on their conduct, and their reasonable hopes of a future reward 
in the prosecution of it, give them a most substantial though se- 
cret satisfaction : and what is profitable to every individual must 
be profitable to the wholesociety — It is most absurd to pretend, 
that private vices are public benefits, and that a general refor- 
mation of manners would ruin vast multitudes, whose subsist- 
ence depends on the common pride and debauchery of others. 
For, 1. What greater good was ever produced or even occa- 
sioned by vice, than hath, or could be by virtue. How easily 
might that money, which is spent in gaming, drunkenness, 
whoredom, or prodigality, be better circulated by the inventions 
and exercises of virtue ? 2. To promote the circulation of 
money, and the support of the industrious, religion and virtue 
allow men the use of many things not absolutely necessarv, if 
their stations do suit, and their incomes can afford them. 3. A 
general reformation to temperance and other virtues would 
prevent the disgrace and ruin, if not the eternal damnation of 
many thousands of persons and families. The time and monev 
spent in gaming, drunkenness, and whoredom, ike. might be 
far better employed in forming children or others to some useful 
business. 4. Many who enjoy splendour and wealth are un- 
happy amidst them, and might be far happier, even in poverty, 
if they had but a virtuous temper pf mind. 5. Men temperate 
and virtuous, would defend and promote the welfare of their 



OF THE INSUFFICIENCY, &c. 2D 

country, with more conscience, care, and courage, than vicious 
and abandoned wretches can be supposed to do. 6. Nations and 
other societies have often become great and powerful by virtue, 
but have been weakened and ruined by vice. 

In the future state, men, who live and die religious and vir- 
tuous, bid fair to be eternally happy, and those that are vitious 
to be miserable. 1. God does, and for ever will, love true religion 
and virtue, and hate profligacy and vice. 2. The pleasures and 
profits which attend religion and virtue, and the miseries which 
accompany vice in this world, appear to be an earnest of some- 
thing correspondent in a future state. 3. The small difference, 
to appearance, that God makes in his dealings with the 
virtuous and the notoriously wicked, in this life, induces our 
rational minds to expect a far greater difference in the next. 



CHAP. II. 



Of the Insufficiency of the Law, and especially of the Light 
of Nature, to conduct Men to true and lasting felicity. 

THE Law of Nature, which hath been imperfectly exhibit- 
ed in the preceding chapter, ought never to be confounded with 
the light of nature as now enjoyed. The law of nature is com- 
prehensively known to God alone, to whom the whole num- 
ber and forms of relations between himself and men are naked 
and open, — it is stable, permanent, uniform, and every where 
binding. The light of nature is that knowledge of the na- 
ture of God and of themselves, and of the duties resulting 
from the connections between them, which men actually pos- 
sess. It is exceedingly diversified in its extent and degree, 
according to the different capacities, opportunities, and inclina- 
tions of men ; — so that, in some parts of Tartary. Africa, 
America, and the Isles, where it receives no assistance or im- 
provement from Divine Revelation, it appears little superiour to 
the sagacity of some brutes. 

Nevertheless, multitudes of our high pretenders to know- 
ledge have extolled it as sufficient, nay, the only guide of man- 
kind to true virtue and happiness. Having had th'eir under- 
standings informed and enlarged by means of revelation, and 
often pretending the highest regard to Christianity, they, in 
the most uncandid manner, endeavour to undermine its autho- 
rity, and render it an object of ridicule ; — or even to attack the 
fundamental principles of natural religion, because of their 
subserviency to it. None of these deistical, or more properly 



30 OF THE INSUFFICIENCY OF 

infidel, and often atheistical writers, that I know of, except 
Lord Herbert, and Blount his plagiary, have so much as pre- 
tended to exhibit a system of their law or religion of nature ; 
but have contented themselves with rambling, crafty, or inso- 
lent attempts to render the oracles of God ridiculous in their 
matter or manner. 

To ramble after them in all their manifold absurdities and 
whims, would be very impertinent here- We shall only re- 
view their principal or more common pretences, extracted 
from Tindal's Christianity as old as the Creation, viz.1. That 
the light of nature is absolutely sufficient to conduct men to 
all that virtue and happiness which is suited to their nature. 

2. That the light of nature, proceeding from an infinitely wise, 
perfect, and unchangeable God, must be absolutely perfect 
and unchangeable, and that therefore all revelations from God 
must be unnecessary, except perhaps to remove prejudices. 

3. That by the light of nature, we perceive God to be just, 
wise, good, and merciful, — happy in himself, — making and 
upholding nothing for his own honour, nor requiring any ser- 
vice from any creature for that end, — but doing all, chiefly in 
order to render them happy. 4. That God, influenced by his 
own infinite natural goodness, takes care to have this law of 
nature, which regulates the fitness of human deportments, im- 
planted in, and sufficiently known to every man, as his cir- 
cumstances require. 5. That the obligations of this law of 
nature are enforced with no sanction of future rewards or pu- 
nishments, but merely with that pleasure or pain which attends 
human actions or the reflection on them, in this life. This 
creed of their long famous chief is a mixture of infidelity and 
atheism. But, 

I. Our infidels never plainly or self-consistently inform us 
what their law of nature is, but represent it as reason, senti- 
ment, or moral sense, by which men discern good from evil, 
virtue from vice, in much the same manner as our taste discerns 
sweet from bitter, or our sight blacli from white, beauty from 
deformity. Now, 1. This cannot be a law at all. If both God 
and men, as they pretend, be under it, from whence doth it de- 
rive its authority ? — If it hath no authority from an enacter, 
how can it be either obeyed or transgressed ? If it could be 
transgressed, there is no proper penalty enforcing it, to seize 
on the disobedient subject. If God himself be a subject of this 
law of nature, conscience, as his deputy, cannot punish men 
for breaking it. And, unless every man, at once, have two, 
and not one person, his own nature cannot at once punish, as 
the principal judge, and be punished as the guilty criminal. — 
Besides, the more any man is accustomed to any vice, his 



THE LAW AND LIGHT OF NATUHB. SI 

inward remorse, on committing it, becomes less, and perhaps 
his pleasure the greater. It then the pleasure or pain at- 
tending actions in this life, be all the possible sanction of re- 
wards or punishments annexed to this law of nature, then the 
more multiplied and aggravated the transgressions of it be- 
come, they will be the less punished, if not the more largely 

rewarded. No human laws can supply this defect. They 

reach but to a few more gross and public transgressions, 
i — and often, at least as executed, bear more hard upon the 
virtuous, than upon the most notoriously vicious. — Even in po- 
lite and learned Athens, how few distinguished themselves in 
excellency, real or apparent, without hazarding their own ba- 
nishment, imprisonment, or death ? 2. If it should be in- 
sisted, that this moral sense, sentiment, or reason, as in every 
man's heart, is a law, men's diversified conduct, where they 
have been no way biassed by revelation, would manifest it to 
be either not self-consistent, or very obscure and unknown to 
men. The ancient Germans and the Siberians, almost to our 
own times, cast their newly born infants into rivers, lakes, or 
ponds, that by their swimming or sinking, it might be determin- 
ed which should be brought up, or suffered to perish. The 
ancient Ammonites, and others, burnt their children in sacrifice 
to Moloch and other idols. The African Giagas murdered 
most of their babes, and one of their queens pounded her only 
son in a mortar, and then anointed her body with his substance.* 
The Caffres still expose their infants in woods, — while mul- 
titudes of other parents have been, and are, inwardly disposed 
to love, protect, and provide for their children : — While many 
nations of ancient Celts or Gauls were exceedingly kind to 
strangers. Some Scythian nations murdered their guests, — 
admitted none to marriage or to their solemn festivals, who had 
not killed one or more of a different tribe ; and at their solemn 
banquets drank out of the skulls of the persons whom they had 

murdered. In ancient times, the Gauls, Greeks, Spaniards, 

Egyptians, Carthagenians, and many others offered human 
sacrifices to their idols. Not many ages ago, the Mexicans are 
said to have sacrificed 64,000 persons at the dedication of one 
temple. Many of the ancient Goths, Saxons, &c. thought 
that violent death by their own or some other hand, was ab- 
solutely necessary to introduce them to future happiness, at 
least of the higher kind. The ancient Gauls and others found- 
ed property on strength of hand, and pretended that every 
person had a just right to that which he could force from his 
neighbour, especially of another tribe. The Spartans held 
theft to be innocent, if it was but shrewdly committed. The 
enlightened Romans battered down the temples of their gods, 
to punish them for not preserving the life of their beloved 



3* OF THE INSUFFICIENCY OF 

prince and general, Germanicus. When the wise Chinese 
cannot obtain the favours which they have requested from 
their idols, they prosecute them at law, in order to recover 
the presents with which they had courted their kindness. Not- 
withstanding all their high reputation ior wisdom, the ancient 
Egyptians worshipped plants, cats, dogs, crocodiles, pyed bulls, 
and the like ; and many of the Africans do much the same to 
this day. The learned Greeks had about 30,000 gods, and 

the Romans, who knows how many! Had all these in their 

breast a law of nature, moral sense, sentiment, or reason, al- 
together different from, and opposite to that which is in the 
breast of men otherwise minded ? Or, have the wild Arabs, who 
will hazard their life to protect strangers and guests by night, 
whom they would have willingly murdered in their fields by 
day, one law of nature for the day, and another for the night? 
—Nor was it the mere vulgar, for and from whom neverthe- 
less, as most numerous, the standard law of nature ought to 
be drawn, that discovered such slrange reason, sentiment, or 
moral sense. No : It is recorded that Lycurgus, the famed 
lawgiver of Sparta, authorised sodomy and artful or bold 
theft ; — that Socrates abounded in profane swearing, practised 
sodomy, and for gain prostituted his wife to his lecherous 
friends ; and, notwithstanding his belief of one God, professed 
before his judges his acknowledgment of the gods of his coun- 
try, and in his last moments, ordered a cock to be sacrificed to 
them ; — that Plato practised sodomy, and was a notorious liar ; 
— that one of the famed Catos principally promoted the Ro- 
mans' villanous destruction of Carthage ; another of them vil- 
lanously robbed of his kingdom the rightful, but young king 
of Cyprus, whom the Romans were in honour bound to protect, 
— was dupe to the profligate Clodius, and at last killed him- 
self; — that Cicero, the famed philosopher, when his daughter 
died, cried out, in a rage, I hate the gods ; — that on losing the 
battle of Philippi, the virtuous Brutus exclaimed, that he had 
been long following virtue, and had at last found it to be a 
mere empty nume ,• — that Seneca, with all his famed morality, 
was exceedingly covetous, encouraged Nero to murder his mo- 
ther, and believed good men, and no doubt himself, to be bet- 
ter than the gods, these being good by nature, those by their 
own care and labour ; — that the sagacious Blount murdered 
himself.. Nay, notwithstanding all their pretences to super- 
lative wisdom and knowledge, our modern infidel doctors do 
not appear to know what the law of nature requires, — whe- 
ther virtue consists in acting according to somt moral instinct, 
leading men to practise it themselves, and approve it in others, 
without any regard to its reasonableness or advantages, — or 
in acting according to the reason and truth, or real cir- 



tHE LAW AND LTGHT OP NATURE. 33 

cumstances of things ; or, in acting according to some ill* 
ward feelingi—or, in acting that which is beautiful. — Hume, 
the great modern pillar of infidelity, who perhaps neither be- 
lieved a God, a heaven, or a hell, places virtue in that which is 
ustful and agreeable to natural inclinations, as in broad shoul- 
ders, well-shaped legs, if not also in pride, adultery, Sec* 3. This 
pretended law of nature can make no proper impression on 
men's minds. — From the above, and a thousand like instances, 
it is plain> that multitudes, instead of being deeply awed and 
affected by its alh-determining power, seem to find pleasure in 
doing that which is most vile, horrid, hurtful, and unnatural* 
The most of the conduct of the enlightened Egyptians, Greeks, 
and Romans, in their worship and wars, amounted to almost 
nothing else. — Now, if human nature be still good and uncor- 
rupted, how extremely weak must the determining influence of 
this perfect law of nature be, as engraved on every man's heart* 
if, when assisted by so very many extrinsic inducements, it can- 
not excite one of a thousand to the actual study of virtue, if 
human nature be morally vitiated, men's moral sense, sentiment, 
or reason, must proportionally be corrupted with ignorance and 
vitious inclination : and if so, how can it be a proper and uner- 
ring guide to true virtue and lasting felicity ?— In vain it is pre- 
tended, that our Reason will sufficiently assist our moral sense 
or sentiment) for, as Lord Shaftesbury, an Infidel doctor, ob- 
serves, " Few men can think, and of those who do, few can 
guide their thoughts." — None act more plainly contrary to Rea- 
son, that our high pretenders to free and deep thinking. While 
Reason strongly inculcates temperance as a salutary virtue, 
how many of them adventure on the intoxicating glass,^-or risk 
their honour, their wealth, their health, and even their life, 
with an abominable harlot ? — While Reason suggests it to be 
more virtuous, honourable, and profitable to converse with their 
Maker, listening to his word, and pouring forth their hearts to 
him in prayer and praise,— how many of them prefer grunting 
like swine over the stupifyingor inebriating bowl, or to lie wal- 
lowing in their vomit ! — While Reason dictates the propriety 
of candour and decency, — -how many of them abandon them* 
selves to the basest villany, grossest falsehood, most glaring self* 
contradiction, or most scurrilous abuse, in their attacks upon the 
sacred oracles, or the professed ministers of Christ ? Nay, how 
inconsistent with common sense, is their attempting to diminish 
the motives to virtue or determents from vice, in taking off meti 
the chain of divine authority, with the apprehensions of fu» 
ture rewards and punishments,— thus sounding an alarm to all 
around, that they may safely fall on themselves, their friends, 
or their property, without any danger of the eternal vengeance 
«f God ? — In vain it is pretended, that human laws and instrup- 

H 






M 6# f iffi INSUFFICIENCY OF 

fions may assist men's moral sense or sentiment, in directing 
them to virtue; for, if human nature itself be corrupted, hu- 
man laws and instructions bid fair to be tainted with this cor- 
ruption ; and if, as infidels pretend, God be subject to the law 
of nature, they can have no proper authority. — Besides, human 
laws reach only to externals, in which neither the principal sub- 
stance nor parts of virtue, nor the rewards of it, nor the pu- 
nishments of vice, consist.— -And, notwithstanding all these laws 
and instructions, as well as all the external providences of God, 
and their tendency to promote virtue, the far greater part of 
men continue notoriously vitious. — In vain it is retorted, That 
neither doth the Christian law restrain its professed subjects 
from vice } — 'for, according to God's own revealed declaration, 
it is but written on the hearts of a few of those called Chris- 
tians, and that but very imperfectly, while they live in this 
world. — No wonder then that many who bear that name, are a 
reproach to their profession, — especially as our infidel doctors, 
and their numerous friends, in order to disgrace and undermine 
the Christian religion, basely pretend to profess it, and presume 
to partake of its sealing ordinances. 4. This infidel-law 
of nature provides no proper method, nay leaves no possibility, 
of rooting out the wrong prejudices of education or custom. 
For, though my moral sense, sentiment, or Reason, should 
be really corrupted, how can that be documented ? If the law 
of nature be implanted in my heart, as well as in that of my 
neighbour, how can he prove that my moral sense is not as pure 
and as much to be trusted as his own? Or, if I should grant 
that mine is corrupted, what authority has either God or man 
to correct my mistakes, if they he under the same Law of na- 
ture ? Or, if, on account of God's superiour goodness and wis- 
dom, I allow him a power to correct my errours, yet what as- 
surance have I, that he will rectify my judgment and vitious- 
inclinations, after I have willingly, if not wilfully, corrupted 
myself? If he should graciously offer me this favour, how can 
I believe either him or his messengers, without sufficient cre- 
dentials of divine wisdom, goodness, power, and authority ? If 
such credentials be produced, I have already slipt off from the 
mere law of nature, and am entered into the Revelation scheme. 
—To avoid these embarrassing difficulties, it is pretended, That 
God can require no more erf men, than what they see to be 
their ditty? and are able to perform. But, how absurdly f 
Must meft, by indulging in sloth or vice, procure for themselves 
a right to diminish their duty to God or men, as they please ?— « 
and yet God be obliged to accept of their conduct as a perfect 
obedience to his law, — and of themselves on account of it ?— - 
Must men have power to abridge or alter the absolutely perfect 
law of nature, as they please, and God be obliged to accept of 



THE LAW AND LIGHT OF NATURE. 36 

unnatural lust, theft, murder, worshipping of leeks, onions, 
bulls, serpents, cats, dogs, &c. as virtue, because some men have 
thought them lawful and good I 

II. After the evidence which has been given of the obscu- 
rity, weakness, imperfection, or inconsistency of the light or 
infidel-law of nature, it is highly absurd to pretend, that it 
either must be, or is absolutely perfect, because it originates from 
Ml absolutely perfect author. — Why must all effects produced 
by perfect causes be absolutely perfect ? Must Clodius, Catiline, 
Tiberius, Nero, Heliogabalus, necessarily be as virtuous and 
perfect as Socrates, Epictetus, and Antoninus, — because the 
same infinitely wise and perfect God made them all ? Must all 
creatures, or even all men, be infinitely, or even equally perfect, 
because God, their common parent, is so ? Are unborn infants 
as perfect men and women as their parents ? Are thieves 
and murderers, whores and whoremongers, absolutely perfect, 
because an infinitely perfect God formed them ? ■ Nay, 
might not a law be absolutely perfect in itself, and yet 
not calculated to promote men's happiness, in some parti- 
cular circumstances ? — Nay, though the circumstances of man- 
kind were unchangeable, as well as the nature of God, yet 
what natural obligation can lie upon God, to reveal the whole 
of his mind and will to them at the very first, more than 
lies upon a master to give his whole possible directions to a 
servant, that moment he enters on his service ? — Though the 
relations between God and men should remain unaltered, yet 
might not men be imperfectly acquainted with some of these 
relations, or through mistake or prejudice neglect or too slightly 
perform the duties of them ? In such a case, might not God rer 
veal to them some new hints, which might more fully instruct, 
excite, or enable them, to the right performance of such duties? 
If he did, might he not require their attention to these intima- 
tions of his will, and mark his displeasure with such as contemn- 
ed them ? — -r-r-lf men's circumstances be changed from what 
they were at first, why may not new duties, suited there-r 
to, be necessary ; — reven as many things relative to eating and 
drinking, &c. are necessary to sick persons, which are not to 
those that are in health ? -If new relations take place be- 
tween God and men, why may not some new duties, or new forms 
of duty, be enjoined on them by him ? — Jf, notwithstanding all 
the innumerable changes of his creatures, God still continue the 
same, absolutely perfect and unchangeable, why may not he 
continue such notwithstanding he institute some temporary 
Jaws suited to the circumstances of mankind ? — Must he be an 
arbitrary tyrant, if, as a wise Governour, he issue forth some 
new laws or instructions to his subjects, or at least, in a pew 



iiO ". OF THE INSUFFICIENCY OF 

manner, when he observes, that their altered circumstances re- 
quire it \ 

III. It is readily granted, and hath been formerly proved, 
that the uncorrupted light of nature manifests the wisdom, 
power, goodness, equity, and some other perfections of God. 
But it is irrefragably evident, that the light of nature, as posses- 
eed by every man in his present corrupted state, amidst so 
many powerful vitious inclinations and customs, doth not afford 
proper views of them— Who knoweth not how fearfully the 
wise Egyptians, the learned Chaldeans, the intelligent Greeks, 
and the enlightened Romans, became vain in their imaginations? 
—and that, at least the vulgar, who being most numerous, ought 
to have had the law of nature peculiarly adapted to them, and 
who certainly had it in their breasts as well as others, looked on 
their gods as exceedingly numerous, and many of them as ab- 
solute monsters of cruelty, unchastity, theft, low revenge, and 

other abominations, in which they themselves delighted.- If 

all the notions of the modern Siberians, Kamschatkans, Hotten- 
tots, and Patagonians, which are very little corrupted by Reve- 
lation, — .or even of the ancient Sabians, Magians, and Hellen- 
ists,— relative to religion, were collected, what a fine system of 
theulogy should we have ? — How many thousand gods I- — How 
many antick ceremonies, more resembling the ridiculous ape, the 
cruel tiger, or the nasty sow, than a rational creature worship- 
ping his God ?• — .—Meanwhile, how could ever men's inward 
jaw of nature infallibly assure them of the infinite power, wis- 
dom, goodness, or equity of the sun, moon, and stars, — or of 
pyed bulls, serpents, dogs, cats, leeks, onions, stones, stocks, &c. 
which it is certain they worshipped as gods, and instead of the 
true God,- — Nay, had our infidel doctors been nothing indebt- 
ed to that Revelation which they so uncandidly abuse, it is not 
probable, that their knowledge wpuld have much transcended 
that of some brutes. 

It hath never been proved that the light of nature ever mani- 
fests God as merciful to the transgressors qf his Jaw.— In his 
common providence, there are manifold instances of his pa- 
tience. But who knows but he may be enduring with much 
long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction ? — Jf men 
be still in their original state, they cannot be miserable, and so 
not proper objects of mercy.- — If they have fallen from it, they 
must have done so, by their deviation from the law of their in- 
finite Sovereign, and from attention to the infinitely important 
end of his honour, and the general good of his creatures, — and 
hence their crime must be infinitely heinous. — Now, what cer- 
tain prowf doth the light of nature afford us, that God will 
forgive an infinite crime, without full satisfaction to his justice; 



THE LAW AND LIGHT OF NATURE. ST 

or that he will render men happy to the uttermost, if, for the 
time to come, they do the best, that their corrupt nature, which 
is enmity against him, deceitful above all things, and desperate- 
ly wicked, is capable of? — Must God trample on his own infi- 
nite majesty and honour, or on his own infinite equity to 
himself and his creatures, that his mercy may be exercised 

on treacherous rebels ? Can even a magistrate, consistent 

with wisdom, goodness, and equity, save murderers from pu- 
nishment, and promote them to honour, providing they be- 
come penitent ? Doth not the almost universal oblation of 

sacrifices among heathens clearly prove, that their conscien- 
ces dictated to them, That God cannot be merciful and kind to 
transgressors, even though penitent, without receiving a pro* 
per atonement to his justice for their crimes. 

Meanwhile, if it be considered that, in those countries where 
men have had least access to Revelation, they have been, and 
still are, little better than a kind of sagacious, but savage 
brutes ; and that men's knowledge hath increased in proportion 
to their immediate access to, and improvement of it ; it appears 
probable, that every proper sentiment concerning the nature of 
God or of man, and concerning moral virtue, among the 
Chaldeans, Egyptians, Phenicians, Greeks, Romans, Celts, 
Chinese, Indians, or others, owed its. rise or revival to the dif- 
fused sparks of Revelation, 

Neither the law nor the light of nature teacheth, that God 
proposeth the highest happiness of his creatures as his sole ov 
principal end in making and managing thcm,witho7it ever in- 
tending his own glory ; or that, in consequence of this, ration- 
al creatures are -under no obligation to aim at his lionour as 
their chief end, in all their conduct ; and that he cannot he 
offended wilh them if they act according to their own inclina<- 

tions. If the advancing men's happiness to the highest were 

God's sole, or even chief end, in his creating, upholding, and go- 
verning them, Why, notwithstanding all his infinite power, wis- 
dom, and goodness, is this end so much defeated,and men for the 
most part miserable ? — Why are not all of them in Africa, Tar- 
tar)', Greenland, and America and Britain, equally happy, ho- 
noured, healthy, intelligent, and useful, being equally the work 
of his hands ? — Hath he formed in them a free witt, which he 
cannot govern to promote their own welfare ? Or, have the vil- 
lanous priests been capable to defeat his kind intentions, wise pur- 
poses, and almighty influences?- — In vain it is pretended that the 
salutary corrections of a future state may rectify the miseries into 
which men bring themselves, by their mistakes in this. For, 
what if God should reckon it folly to lavish his favours, in a fu- 
ture state, upon such as obstinately die in their crimes ? — Or, 
what if he should have determined to be favourable no more to 



St OF THE INSUFFICIENCY, &c. 

them ? — Or, if men, or any thing else, can defeat all his endea- 
vours to promote his chief, his sole end, in this life, why may 
they not be capable to do it for ever ? — Nay, if rendering 
men happy to the uttermost was his principal or sole end, 
how can he, consistent with his infinite power, wisdom, arid 
goodness, permit them ever to be, in the least, miserable ? — 
Not therefore the advancing their happiness to the highest, but 
the manifesting the gl6ry of his own perfections, must have 
been his chief end, in making and managing of men, and of 
«very other creature. — If so, every attempt to defeat or deviate 

from that important end, must be infinitely criminal. Is it 

then to be supposed, that men ought never to regard this end 
or their own eternal welfare, as dependent on it ?— Or, that 
God will sit unconcerned at their pouring contempt on it, and 
their thus attempting to murder himself, the infinite Maker, 
Upholder, and Governour of the world ; and to ruin the welfare, 
the existence of all his creatures, which depend on him for 
every thing ? — Nay, though we could suppose that God's own 
honour had not been his chief end in making and managing the 
world, it might be our dutv to make it our chief end in our 
whole conduct.— Though a benevolent friend should not chief- 
ly, or even not at all, have in view his own honour in freely 
supplying our wants, it might be our duty to regard chiefly 
his honour, in testifying our thankfulness. 

IV. It is readily admitted, that God's infinite goodness de- 
termines him to make his law of nature sufficiently known to 
his innocent rational creatures. But it hath been sufficiently 
proved, that he neither doth, nor is obliged to make it perfectly 
and clearly known to mankind in their present state. And, if 
he were obliged to render it sufficiently known to them, why 
might he not restore the knowledge of it by revelation, if its 
natural impressions be lost ? 

V. We readily grant that future rewards of virtue, which der 
pend not on any natural relation betwixt God and men, but on 
federal agreements, cannot be proved to be an enforcement of 

the law of nature. But we can never admit, that future pu- 
nishments of vice are not a penal, nay the principal penal sanc- 
tion of the law of nature. How can God, injustice to him- 
self or to his creatures, forbear to point his indignation against 
the man who attempts to be their common destroyer ?•— If he du- 
ly regard his own infinite excellencies, how can he mark the 
horrid blasphemer, the bloody murderer, and the rapacious thief, 
as no less his favourites, than the most virtuous and devout 
persons ? — If he be infinitely displeased wjth sin, why may hot 
he punish it, when, where, and how he pleaseth ? — By what 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. i» 

right or power can any limit his patient long-suffering towards 
the guilty ? — If they persist in their sin till their death, why 
may they not be punished in a future state? — If they sin as 
long as they can, why may not God punish their sin as long as 
he can ? — If sin, as committed against infinite perfection 
and authority, in opposition to an infinitely important end, 
and as an attempt to dishonour, to destroy an infinitely pre- 
cious God, be infinitely criminal, how can any puuish- 
ment of it less than infinite be adequate ? — And, how can 
it be executed on a finite person, but in his eternal damna- 
tion i — If the justice of God require the infliction of such pu- 
nishment, it is needless to enquire how it can it be useful to 
other creatures. And yet, who knows how the future pu- 
nishment of sinners may enhance the everlasting happiness of 
the virtuous ; — how much it may impress their minds with a 
delightful sense of God's goodness to them ; — or with a com- 
placent acquiescence in the eternal vindication of his own infi- 
nite excellencies, in the punishment of those impious wretches 
that on earth contemned them ? — Moreover, though we should 
suppose future troubles to be no more than salutary correc- 
tions, no more than probable, or even possible, the law of 
nature which direct men to provide food, raiment, houses, and 
the like, for a future period, which they will perhaps never en- 
joy, must also direct them to use every known and proper mean. 
of preventing or escaping them. 



CHAP. III. 

Qf the Revealed Standard of Religion contained in the Scrip* 
tures of the Old and JVero Testament, in its Possibility, De* 
sirableness, Necessity, Propriety, Reasonableness, Credibi' 
lity, Divine Authority, and Contents. 

I. A REVELATION of God's mind and will to men h 
Possible. — Being infinite in wisdom and knowledge, God can- 
not but know many things which we do not.' — Being ab» 
solutely sovereign, he cannot be bound to reveal all his mind aif 
once to us,— nor even all that we are capable of knowing.—' 
There is no greater necessity for his disclosing things relative 
to religion, than for his discovering* things relative, to arts and 
sciences, but as he sees fit. — Though his infinite wisdom and 
goodness should influence him, at the first, to manifest all that 
is absolutely necessary to be known, in order to promote real 
virtue and happiness, — why may not he afterwards make new 
manifestations, which may promote superiour happiness ? — If h«t 



40 OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

has given us a power of communicating our thoughts to other* 
around us, — how can he be incapable to communicate his own ? 

If he hath enstamped upon every creature the marks of his 

infinite perfections } — if he mark every creature with a distin- 
guishing form, colour, countenance, or voice, &c. — and give to 
every man a peculiar style, manner of writing, &c. how can he 
y be incapable to reveal his mind to men in a mannef that will 
sufficiently mark it his own ? — And, if he make merciful addi- 
tions to the law of nature, why may they not be received upon 
sufficient evidences of their divine authority ? — ■ — And, why 
may not men who, before they received this revelation, Were 
very ignorant,'— by the plain articles of it, and the uncontrol- 
led miracles and power attending it, be awakened, and ena- 
bled to perceive its divine authority.^ — Though this revelation 
cannot forbid any thing which the law of nature requires, or 
require any thing which the law of nature forbids, — why may 
it not disclose some things which the law, at least the light, of 
nature, as enjoyed by us, did not ? or require some things not 

required, or forbid some things not forbidden by it? And, 

why any more need of mathematical demonstrableness to prove 
a revelation to be from God, than to prove the law of nature to 
be from him ? 

II. A supernatural revelation from God is desIraSLe. — 
Though the. law of nature was perfectly sufficient to conduct 
men to happiness, while they continued in the estate in which 
they were created, — the entrance of sin, by putting things out 
of order, may have rendered it insufficient. Ignorance may 
have darkened their mind, sense of guilt terrified their conscience, 
and vitious inclinations biassed their will and affections : — 
their whole spiritual constitution may be so weakened, as to 
render helps necessary to excite and enable them, to know and 

obey, even the law of nature. And, if human instructions 

ahd excitements may be useful, why may not divine ones be 
much more so ? — if then they be offered, why should they 

not readily and thankfully be received and practised ? In 

vain it is pretended, that rationality will render men sufficient- 
ly religious : for generally the high pretenders to rationality 
have least appearance of devotion or virtue. Nay, though 
men should know somewhat relative to their duty and in- 
terest, might not a larger measure of wisdom and knowledge 
render them still more virtaous, useful, and happy ? Will our 
infidels pretend, that the most stupid savages, who are endowed 
with rationality, bid fair to be as useful and happy as Socrates, 
Epictetus, Antoninus, Seneca, &c. ? — Though men should know 
their duty in no inconsiderable degree, may they not need ex- 
citements to and direction in practising it ? — Though sound rea- 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 41 

*on were sufficient to direct men, how God is to be honoured 
and worshipped, and his creatures used, — corrupted reason can- 
not. Though it were sufficient to direct them how to deal 

with God as a friend, it cannot direct them how to procure his 
friendship when they have rendered him their enemy; — Nay, if 
reason alone be sufficient to direct and duly excite men to virtue 
and happiness, why did Socrates, Plato, Cicero, Seneca, and in- 
numerable others of the like complexion, distress the world 
with their costly and tedious instructions ? — It is absurd to pre- 
tend, that men's innate benevolence similar to that of God, will 
sufficiently assist their reason in influencing them to virtue, and 
leading them to happiness. It is foolish to talk of men's in- 
nate benevolenee, when such atheism, such indevotion, and such 
malevolence, prevail in every part of the world. — It is equally 
absurd to pretend, that philosophy will, or can, correct the er-» 
rours of mankind. — Very few of the heathen philosophers pro- 
fessed to be teachers of morality. — Such of them as did could 
produce no divine warrant for their commencing instructors to 
their neighbours. — None of them appear to have given a single 
lecture against idolatry, sodomy, and other reigning vices of 
their country. And seldom did their lectures on any point of 
morality appear to have any good influence on their own beha-* 
viour. — They never touched upon the higher points of virtue, in 
men's loving God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength^ 
or loving their neighbours as themselves. They never enforced 
their instructions with the principal motives to true virtue, 
drawn from the excellency, authority and kindness of God, or 
from clear and distinct views as to a future eternity of inexpres- 
sible happiness and misery. They neither did, nor could, give 
men any proof, that God would accept their imperfect, or even 
perfect virtue, unless they first made full satisfaction for their 
sinful defects. — Their sentiments were also so diversified, that 
hone could certainly learn from them, what was either virtue, 
or vice. — And even now, how little reformation would a philo- 
sophical harangue upon the beauty of chastity, honesty > bene- 
volence, or serious devotion, have upon an assembly of rakes> 
robbers, and infidels ? 

Though the light of nature in itself^ were still sufficient to 
point out every thing necessary to our true and lasting happi- 
ness, yet our indolence, passion, prejudices, and deep-rooted 
habits of vice, render us very unfit for an impartial search after 
truth. Most men, from their worldly employments, and their 
manifold connections one with another, cannot spare the time 
that is necessary for inquiring into the principles of natural re- 
ligion. Few have ever actually undertaken such a laborious 

task, or succeeded in it. And after all the search they could 

make, what certain proof could they give, that God will pardon 



4* OF THE REVEALED STANDAfttf OF RELIGION. 

sin, or that there is a future state of everlasting felicity?— 
both which must necessarily be known and firmly believed, in 
order to our attaining to perfection in virtue, nay to any real 

degree of it, of any satisfactory comfort of mind. Though 

some great genius should arise, and find out every thing neces- 
sary be known, in order to perfection in virtue and happiness, 
how coukl he, in a clear and efficacious manner, unfold his dis- 
coveries* to others, who' are so ignorant, and so much biassed to 
the contrary ? — -By what conscien'ce-awihg authority could he 
give out, or how could he enforce his instructions ?— Though 
the magistrates' power were exerted in his favour, that extends 
only to the externals of actions, and not at all to the true form 

and essence of virtue.- To add no more, the desires and the 

hopes of Socrates, Plato, and other heathen philosophers, for 
Some divine revelation to solve their doubts ? — the manifold 
pretences to revelation among Heathens, Mahometans, Jews, 
and Christians ; — and even the ready application of medicines 
providentially provided for our diseased bodies — prove that re- 
velation, the medicine of diseased minds, is desirable, in order 
to make us understand and obey the law of nature, or at least 
to render us more, or more easily happy than otherwise we 
could be, — if not really existent. 

Though reason be necessary to examine the authority of di- 
vine revelation, Revelation itself is not therefore unnecessary 
and useless. Even in this very examination, it is useful for the 

excitement and assistance of our reason. Though reason be 

judge and manager in all the methods of learning the arts and 
sciences, these are so far from being unnecessary and useless, 
that reason itself" is much improved by them. — The external 
evidence to lhe divine authority of revelation may strike the 
mind of an Atheist, convince him that there is a God, and cause 
him attentively to consider the principles of natural religion, 
and thus prepare him for examining the internal evidences of 
the divinity of revelation. — The attesting revelation by mira- 
cles, and the accomplishment of its predictions, confirm good 
men in their former belief of the unchangeable purposes, and of 
the unerring, wise, and all-powerful providence of God.——. 
The internal evidence as to the divinity of some revealed doc- 
trines, and the miracles which attest and procure credit to the 
publishers, as faithful messengers of God, warrant men to re- 
ceive their other doctrines, though they should not at first clear- 
ly perceive the internal evidence of their divine original. — Nor 
is any remarkable insight into the law of nature necessary to 
qualify men for embracing divine revelation, as it brings light 
along with itself, and is as sufficient to procure the assent of 
their mind, or consent of their will, as the law of nature is.— -. 
Though reason be exceedingly useful in finding out the sense of 






OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OP RELIGION. 4o 

revelation, that will no more infer, that it is its judge or foun- 
dation, than that the hand which brings nourishment to my 
mouth, is the nourishment itself; or that the eye which 
perceives the gold in the mine, and the hand which brings it 

out, are the cause or essence of the gold. -Nay, the true and 

soring faith of divine revelation is not at all founded on mere 
rational proofs of its divine original, but on its stl/'-crithucing 
light and power, displayed in the almighty application of it to 
our heart, by the Holy Ghost. 

III. In the present state and condition of mankind, to con- 
duct them to true virtue and happiness, a supernatural revela- 
tion of God's mind and will is absolutely necf.ssary. 1. It is 
evident, that men are now in a fallen state, in which they want 
much of that goodness which they originally possessed. — The 
multitude of civil laws and their sanctions, the multitude of 
legal securities, bonds, writs, oaths, pledges, and of bolts, locks, 
keys, &c. are unanswerable documents of the necessity and even 
the difficulty of restraining men from vice, Notwithstanding 
all these restraints, much more vice than virtue appears in the 
world. — The histories of all nations, the most enlightened 
and civilized not excepted, consists of little else than male- 
volence, deceit, strife, war, murder, robbery, brutish or whim- 
sical idolatry, and superstition. — Scarce any thing at all fills 
the annals of the Goths, Hunns, Tartars, African and Ameri- 
can savages, but brutality, cruelty, robbery, murder, and the 
like, their minds not having been impressed by the light of Re- 
velation. Nay, unless men's nature be corrupted, why, not- 
withstanding much pains to prevent it, is there any vjee at all 
in the world ? — Why, at the expense of inward remorse, antj 
the hazard of temporal and eternal punishments, doth any man 
commit crimes, even the most contrary to the law of nature ? 

If men have corrupt inclinations they could not, in their 

original formation, receive them from God, who is infinitely 
holy, just, wise, and good. 2. If men be in such a corrupt 
state, they must have fallen into it by some breach of the law 
of nature, which is founded on God's infinite authority, and is 
a transcript of his infinite excellency, — some deviation from the 
infinitely important end of creation and providence ; — and 
hence their crime, objectively considered, must be infinitely 
heinous, and so must deserve nothing less than infinite punish- 
ment. God cannot discover a proper regard to his own excel- 
lencies and laws, when they are contemned, hated, and trampled 
on, or to his creatures, when they are abused and injured, unless 
he execute due punishment on the transgressors. — It is not 
mean but proper for him to punish those base wretches, whom 
all the charms and rewards of virtue could never attract,-— 



44 QF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

whom neither his excellency and kindness could allure, nor all 
his majesty, authority, and justice could awe. 3. If, in propor- 
tion to the heinous nature of their crimes, their punishment be 
infinite, impossible to be endured by them at once, it must be 
extended through 'an everlasting duration. Unless also, their 
nature be changed, they, under their punishment, will off -nd 
more and more. — rNay, though their nature were got once 
changed, how could mere creatures love a wrathful, a condemn- 
ing, a punishing God, with all their heart, soul, mind, and 
strength ? How could their holiness of nature be preserved un- 
der his curse, and the execution of it ? Fallen men must there- 
fore continue for ever in their sinfulness and misery, unless some 
infinite and almighty deliverer be found, who can give infinite 
Satisfaction to an offended God for their sins, and restore them 
into favour with him and conformity to his image.— ,No such 
deliverer can be found, unless there be more than one person 
jn the godhead, and these graciously agree, that one of them 
6hail undertake the arduous work. It is highly absurd to pre- 
tend that repentance will atone for crimes, where infinite sa- 
tisfaction is due.' — It would effectually ruin civil societies, if 
repentance were admitted as a sufficient satisfaction for crimes 
against men. The vilest traitor, murderer, or robber, rather 
than rot in a prison or hang on a gibbet, would pretend to 

repent, and none could see his heart. The repentance of 

a man who continued under the dominion of sinful lusts, could 
imply no real hatred of sin itself, but only amount to mere rage 
against it, on account of its consequences ; or rather to mere 
grief and rage, that God should be so holy and just, that he 
will not puffer sin to pass unpunished. How could this be an 
acceptable satisfaction to God ?^In the future state no troubles 
suffered by a finite creature could ever amount to an infinite 
satisfaction. Nor have we the least proof, that the torments 
of that state ever did, or will, or can, in the smallest degree, 
extinguish men's sinfulness or misery. What, if there be mil- 
lions of rational creatures, that have been tormented almost ever 
since the creation, without being in the least bettered by it ? 4. If 
any proper method of recovering fallen men be found out by God, 
it is proper that it should be unfolded. Without a divine re- 
velation of the subsistence of three persons in one godhead, 
reason will pronounce the redemption of sinners impossible. A 
concealed method of salvation could never sufficiently vindicate 
the justice of God, in punishing an innocent, a divine Redeem- 
er, in our stead, and justifying us, who are guilty sinners, on 
his account. — A revelation of the method of our redemption is 
necessary to make us consider it, and give our cheerful consent 
to it ; necessarv to make us know our Redeemer, and how to 
receive hjs blessings and testify our thankfulness, in suitable 
forms of duty, not prescribed by the law of nature, — and eyen 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OP RELIGION. 45 

necessary to vindicate our behaviour towards God and men, 
when it is so different from that of the world around us. 

IV. No revelation relating to the redemption of mankind 
could answer its important ends, unless it was sufficiently 
supported with internal and external evidences of its divine au- 
thority, or origination from God. In its internals, my 

reason would induce me to expect, that it should contain no- 
thing unworthy of God's perfections, or inconsistent with his 
law of nature; — that it would elucidate and confirm the laws of 
nature, and awaken men's attention to them, especially in their 
leading articles ; — that it would unfold some new and important 
mysteries concerning God's redeeming mankind ; — and clearly 
exhibit some remarkable truths, not at all, or at least very 
darkly, pointed out by the law of nature, relative to the pardon of 
sin, future happiness, and the like ; — that all the principal points 
of truth should, in some passages, be so plainly expressed, that 
every unbiassed reader of ordinary capacity might readily per- 
ceive them ; — in fine, that it should exhibit a most exalted and 
amiable representation of God, as wise, holy, just, gracious, 
merciful, and faithful, — should mightily check the pride and 
.selfishness of men ; — and that all its parts should harmoniously 
concur to promote solid virtue. In its external circum- 
stances, I would expect that all or most of those employed 
in first publishing it should be men of distinguished virtue, 
practically exemplifying their instructions } — that some prin- 
cipal publisher should, in his own exemplification of the virtues 
which he enjoined, give an absolutely perfect pattern to others; 
—that neither he, nor any subordinate publishers, -should have 
such worldly honour, power, wealth, or influence, as might 
bias themselves, or engage others without proper examina- 
tion to believe them ; — that the first publication, or the more 
noted revivals thereof, should be attended with public, plain, 
and uncontrolled miracles, for attesting the publisher's com- 
mission from God, and for awakening mankind to attend to, 
examine, and embrace their messages ; — that the principal pub- 
lishers should be remarkably owned of God, in their labours 
nnd sufferings.— I would expect that revelation should be gra- 
dually exhibited, as men needed it, or were able to bear it ; — 
that it should be chiefly exhibited in such seasons, if not also in 
such places, as were most proper for a thorough examination of 
its divine marks, manner, and contents ; — that its principal 
exhibitions should be attended with a remarkable influence 
upon men's hearts and practices, and with alarming events in, 
nations and churches, that the date and other circumstances 
of it, might lie the more open to an after examination. I would 
expect, that the principal histories of it should be attested by 



4§ OP THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

enemies as well as by friends ; — that God, by his providence, 
should discover a singular care in the preservation and safe 
conveyance ot it from one generation or place to another; — and 
that, as miracles too frequently repeated lose their alarming 
influence, it should contain many circumstantiated predictions, 
the exact accomplishment of which, from age to age, might 
supply the place of miracles. 

The Heathen, Mahometan, and Popish revelations, if ex- 
amined by these desirable, and some of them absolutely neces- 
sary marks of a revelation from God, clearly appear to be mere 
impostures. They nevertheless indirectly suggest the reality of 
some genuine and authentic revelation of the mind and will of 
God ; otherwise, why should so many attempt to counterfeit 
it ? — But, the more narrowly that revelation, which is contained 
in our Bibles, is examined by these or any other proper charac- 
teristics, the more clearly will its excellency, suitableness, and 
divine authority appear. 

V. The contents of the scriptures of the Old and New Tes- 
taments are perfectly agreeable to reason. Indeed, the 
leading doctrines concerning the trinity of persons in one 
godhead; — the origin of moral evil; — the mercy of God; — the 
method of our redemption, effeatual calling, justification, sane- 
tijication, and eternal glorification, through the Son' of God 
in our nature, as Mediator between God and men; — and con- 
cerning our union and communion with him, and our wor- 
shipping of God in him; and concerning the true groimds of 
our comfort under the troubles of life, or against the fears 
of death; — the certainty and form of the general resurrec- 
tion and last judgment, are not unfolded by reason. Nay, it 
is proper that they should transcend its most narrow and labo- 
rious search. Otherwise it were improper, that God should 
reveal them with so much solemnity and such full attestation, — 
But, when they are manifested by divine revelation, every one 
of them appears perfectly consistent with right reason. 

Nothing can more transcend the investigation or comprehen- 
sion of human reason, than the mystery of three persons in one 
godhead, revealed in our Bible, yet it is entirely agreeable to 
it. It is perfectly reasonable, that an infinite substance, whose 
fulness is unbounded, should subsist in a plurality of persons at 
once, though a created and finite substance cannot. The 
subsistance of one numerical or individual divine substance in a 
flurulity of persons equal in power and in glory, or the reason 
of its subsisting precisely in three distinct persons, is not, in the 
least, more incomprehensible to our reason, than the self-exist- 
ence, unsuccessive eternity, and absolute infinity of God, — all 
which we cannot, without trampling on and unhinging ous 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OP RELIGION. 4? 

reason, but own to be essential properties of his nature. Though 
mere reason afford us no hint of this subsistence of one God in 
three distinct persons, it loudly suggests, that in an infinite 
God, there may be ten thousand excellencies, which our finite, 

our weak, and disordered minds, may not have perceived. 

Though there be no vestige of God's subsistence in three per- 
sons in his works of creation and providence, reason suggests 
that it may nevertheless be true. Both reason and experience 
attest, that men may have many real * xcellencies, piety, bene- 
volence, and the like, which are not visibly marked in the 
common productions of their hands. Even the deformed 
hints of three persons in one godhead given by Pythagoras, 
Plato, Trismegistus, and some Chinese philosophers, which, I 
doubt not, were derived from revelation, concur to represent 
this mystery as agreeable to reason. My reason loudly de- 
mands, that I admit that an infinite God knows himself infi- 
nitely belter than I can pretend j and that, therefore, I ought 
readily to believe every representation which he makes of him- 
self, however incapable I be fully to understand it — Nay, with- 
out supposition of this mysterious subsistence of the godhead 
in distinct persons, reason attests, that the redemption of sinful 
and miserable men is absolutely impossible. For, how could the 
same divine person be .Sender and Sent ; Creditor and Debtor; 
Judge and condemned Criminal in law ; Punisher and Punish' 

ed c i Is it reasonable to damn every individual of mankind, 

rather than admit that God may possess a perfection which I 
Cannot comprehend, and of which I do not perceive any marks 
in his works of nature? How shocking the thought! 

Upon the supposition of God's purposingto recover all or any 
of mankind from their fallen estate, Reason pronounces the 
whole mediatorial scheme, when revealed, as not merely agree- 
able to itself, but most of it absolutely necessary, and all of it 
highly becoming the perfections of God.- — Infinite satisfaction 
for sin being necessary to purchase its pardon, none but an in- 
finite person could give it. — How reasonable then, that the 
second person in the godhead should become our Surety and as- 
sume our nature, not only that he might endear God to us, 
and as our pattern exemplify to us a course of the most un- 
blemished and exalted virtue, but chiefly, that in the very na- 
ture which had sinned, he might obey the law and satisfy the 
justice of God, and act as our interceding advocate with 
Him, providing that all. this was necessary for recover- 
ing mankind, — and that the honour of God, and of our divine 
Surety should not, on the whole, suffer, but be proportionally 
advanced. — Both Reason and experience attest, that no easier 
method could effectually recover fallen men. — Notwithstanding 
all the philosophy of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, Persians, 



4& OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OP RELIGION. 

Greeks, Romans, Indians, and Gauls, — all the costly ceremo- 
nies ot the Jews and their proselytes, — all the engaging deli- 
verances, and alarming corrections of Divine Providence, men 
had, for several thousand years, become worse and worse, de- 
ceiving, and being deceived. By this method of redemp- 
tion, the honour of God and of the Mediator is sufficiently se- 
cured, and gloriously advanced. — The divine Redeemer's life 
being properly his own, he readily surrendered it to his Fa- 
ther's justice, in the room and for the benefit of sinful men. 
Neither he nor the world suffered any injury by his death. To 
balance his debasement, labours, and sufferings, he was quickly 
raised from the dead, and rewarded with everlasting glory and 
honour, as Head over all things to his church. — Though wick- 
ed men instrumentally robbed him of his life, his own volunta- 
ry surrender of it constituted his sufferings and death a proper 
atonement for men's sin. — Hereby the perfections of God are 
gloriously displayed : — If he had rendered sinful men happy 
without a proper and adequate satisfaction for their sins, they 
would be tempted to think the breaches of his law scarcely cri- 
minal, and be encouraged to offend him more and more. But 
when he fully punishes all their sins on his own Son, constituted 
their Surety, and charged in law with their crimes, — how pos- 
sibly can this tempt men to think that he hates the innocent and 
loves the guilty ! — Nay, it discovers Him to be so infinitely 
holy and just, that he cannot but hate iniquity, and cannot suf- 
fer his own Son, when legally charged with it, to pass unpu- 
nished. This atonement is necessary, not in order that God 

may love men, but that his love may be honourably manifested 
to, and upon them : — It renders pardon of sin due to us for the 
Mediator's sake, and yet altogether of God's free grace, as we 
are considered in ourselves. — Our having a Mediator between 
God and us imports not any absence of him, or his having any 
inclination to ceremony ; but it imports our unworthiness; and 
his infinite greatness and purity, that he neither will, nor can 
have any immediate favourable and friendly dealing with sinful 
creatures. — It encourages us in approaching boldly to God to 
ask and receive every thing that we need, notwithstanding all 
our weakness, guilt, and pollution. — It unfolds the exceeding 
riches of his grace, in freely providing for us an effectual mean 
of fellowship with himself, suited to our sinful and wretched 

condition. How possibly then can Reason teach men to 

hazard, nav, insure their own eternal damnation, rather than 
acquiesce in such a scheme of redemption, — such a Mediator, 
— such a substitution, — such a mediation, devised and estab- 
lished by God for their everlasting and inconceivable happiness. 
Upon the rational supposition of such a reasonable scheme of 
redemption, nothing can be more reasonable, than that every 



Or THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION 49 

person for whom it is intended, should be particularly chosen iri 
the Mediator, as their saving Head.* that he may have every 
one, for whom he undertook, as his fellow sharers of eternal 

blessedness If, in consequence of his engagement for them, 

and assumption of their nature, their sins were charged on, and 
satisfied for, by Him, Reason demands that, in consequence of 
their union to Him as their Surety and Husband, his righte- 
ousness fulfilled in their stead should judicially be placed to 
their account, and all the blessings of justification, adoption, 
sanctification, spiritual comfort, and eternal glory be commu- 
nicated to them as in Him. 

This revelation contained in our Bibles suggests no untvof- 
thy apprehensions of God. Human parts, members; affections* 
passions, or acts are ascribed to Him, merely in condescension 
to our weakness, as without them, the deisticai Collins justly 
observes, u many could not conceive of God at all," and they are 
to be understood in a figurative and spiritual manner. — God is 
never represented as unholy When he is said to harden or de- 
ceive men, it means no more than that he permits them to har- 
den and deceive themselves, or to be hardened and deceived by 
Satan and their wicked companions. — Jeremiah's charge of 
God with deceiving him is probably the language of his unbelief 
and passion; or, his words might be translated, Thou hast per- 
suaded me, and I was persuaded, i. e. to prophecy, Jer. xx. 7. 
God is the author of the evil of punishment, but not of the evil 
of vice, Amos iii. 6. Isa. xlv. 7 — God did not break his pro- 
mise to the Israelites in the Arabian wilderness. He never 
promised that that particular generation, which came out of 
Egypt, should enter into Canaan. — Their continuance and their 
ruin in the wilderness were but a just interruption or delay of 
the fulfilment of his promise, occasioned by their sin. And 
when their children had got possession of Canaan, it clear- 
ly appeared how unjustly God had been charged with any 
breach of his promise, Num. xiv. 34. 

Nothing which is approved in Scripture is contrary to the 
Laxv of Nature. The Jewish laws prohibited every kind of im- 
morality, and particularly drunkenness and disobedience to pa- 
rents, Deut. xxix. 19. and xxi. 18—21. They discouraged 
every kind of whoredom and uncleanness. — -Priests' daughters, 
who committed whoredom, and every person chargeable with 
adultery, incest, sodomy, bestiality, were appointed to death. 
If a young woman had been defiled and concealed it, or if a 
wife secretly committed adultery, they exposed themselves to 
the utmost hazard of a shameful death, Lev. xviii. xx. Deut. 
xii. 20, 21. Num. v. He that defiled a slave paid'the value of 
her ransom, and she was scourged, Lev. xix. 20, 21, 22. Bas- 
tards were excluded from the congregation of the Lord, Deuti 

Jv 






ftf Of THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION" 

Xxiii. 1 — S. Honesty and benevolence were strongly incul- 
cated ; — that men should love their neighbours as themselves, — • 
should deal kindly with the oxen and asses of their enemies, — 
and carefully protect and provide for strangers, widows, and fa- 
therless children, Exod. xxii. 21, 22. Lev. xix. 10, &c. 

Indeed, some laws were singular and obscure ; but these ought 
lo be explained by others, which are more plain ; and the ra- 
ther, that in so compendious an history many things are cer- 
tainly omitted which might have illustrated their meaning and 

propriety, It was highly reasonable that Abraham, when 

commanded by God, the sovereign proprietor, Lord, giver and 
restorer of human life, should willingly attempt to offer his only 
son Isaac in sacrifice. Besides, God intended, by this com- 
mand, merely to prove and honour Abraham's faith and obe- 
dience ; whenever this was done, he stopt the execution, and 
loaded them with his blessings, Gen. xxii. Heb. xi. If — 19. 
«»» It was highly reasonable, that the Israelites, when com- 
manded by God, the primary and supreme proprietor of all 
things, and judge of the world, should ask (not borrow) and 
carry off that wealth which their long hard service had de- 
served as wages, and to which the Egyptians had forfeited all 
their right before God, Exod. iii. 22. and xii. 35, 36. — As 
the Midianites, Canaanites, and Amalekites had, by their adul- 
teries, idolatries, and murders, forfeited their lives and sub- 
stance, into the hands of his justice, God had full right to ap- 
point whom he pleased to deprive them thereof: and it was very 
proper to appoint the Israelites to do it, in order to deter them 
from the commission of such crimes, Num* xxv. xxxi. Deut. 
vii. Lev. xviii. xx. Josh, vi — xii. Num. xxi. Judg. iv. Exod. 

xvii. 1 Sam. xv. Phinehas, Ehud, Elijah, and Jehu, acting 

as deputies under God, the supreme magistrate of their nation, 
might justly punish malefactors or act hostilely against declared 
enemies, Num. xxv. Judges iii. 1 Kings xviii. 2 Kings i. ix. x. 

' -Idolatry, blasphemy, and witchcraft, being high treason 

against God as King of nations, as well as King of Israel, it 
was highly proper, that these and other like crimes should be 
punished by death. And had that penalty efFectuallv deterred 
the Jews from these abominations, it had been exceedingly pro- 
fitable to them and to the heathens around, and had prevented 
much misery. 

God never punisheth children for the sins of their parents, but 
when they are involved in their guilt, or have by other sins de- 
served the punishment inflicted, though oh account of their pa- 
rents' wickedness, they met with it in a particular form, Exod. 
xx. 5 — The innocent children of Korah did not suffer in his 
punishment. The children of Dathan, Abiram, and Achan, 
who perished with their parents, were most probably partakers? 






OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 51 

with them in their crimes, Num. xxvi. 10, LI. andxvi. 27 — 
33. Josh. vii. 24, 25. Perhaps the descendants of Saul, that 
were hanged by the Gibeonites, had wickedly justified his per- 
fidious murder of these strangers, who were dedicated to the 
service of God. It is certain, the case was extraordinary, 
warning all the Israelites to beware of violating any of their 
engagements materially lawful, 2 Sam. xxi. 1 — 9. Uncircura- 
cised Hebrew children were not liable to death till, by their 
own fault when come to the years of discretion, they had con- 
temptuously neglected the seal of God's covenant, the badge of 
his peculiar people ; and perhaps cutting off from God's peo- 
ple means no more than exclusion from his Church, Genesis 
xvii. 10 — 14. But after all, it is certain, that children often suf- 
fer in the punishment of their parents sin — from the hands of 
men in the forfeiture of the estates of traitors; — and from the 
hand of God, when multitudes of infants perish in inundations, 
earthquakes, fires, massacres, overthrows of nations or cities, 
&c. And, in ordinary cases, how often do children suffer in 
their bodies, minds, and estates, through the sloth, prodigality, 
and other wickedness of parents, as well as the bad education 
which they receive from them. 

No resentfulness of temper is allowed, but strictly forbidden 
in the Scriptures, Prov. xxv. 21. Rom. xii. 17. — 21. Mat. v. 
45 — 48. Luke vi. 26 — 36. Elijah and Elisha acted by ex- 
traordinary warrant from God, and punished none but ring- 
leaders in idolatry and blasphemy, if not also murderers of the 
godly, who therefore deserved death by the civil magistrate, 1 
Kings xviii. 19 — 40. 2 Kings i. 9 — 12. and ii. 24. and ix. 7, 
8. Jeremiah did not resentfully wish the ruin of his persecu- 
tors, but, as directed by God, foretold it as a warning to others, 
Jer. xi. xviii, xx. xxviii. xxix. xxxvi. xliv. Several expres- 
sions of the Psalms might be translated, and are to be under- 
stood, not as resentful wishes but as awful predictions of that 
punishment which should befal the implacable enemies of Da- 
vid, and especially the incorrigible enemies of Jesus Christ, of 
whom he was a type. — Moreover, as God was in a peculiar 
manner the king of the Jewish nation, these petitions for judg- 
ments on offenders may be considered as reasonable applica- 
tions to him for proper protection and redress, P%al. v. vi. vii. 
xxxv. xl. lvii. lix. lxiv. lxx. lxxix. cix. cxl. And as the Jews 
lived under a more uniform influence of outward providence, 
and had not such distinct revelations of future rewards and pu- 
nishments as we have, the exercise of external severities, es- 
pecially upon ringleaders in wickedness, was in some cases 
more necessary. 

Neither Samuel nor Jeremiah uttered any falsehood, but 
merely concealed that which they had no call to declare, 1 Sam. 
*vi. 1, 5. Jer. xxxviii. 26, 27. Nor is there any evidence, that 



$% OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

the Egyptian midwives uttered any falsehood concerning the 
easy childbirth of the Hebrew women, Exod. i. 19. — Kahab 
did not betray her country, but merely provided for her own 
and her friends' safety, when she saw the inevitable ruin of her 
country to be at hand. Nor is she ever commended for her 
lie concerning the Hebrew spies, but for her faith in receiving 
them, Heb. xi. 31. 

Nothing ridiculous or absurd is ever enjoined in Scripture. 
The conferences of God with Satan, concerning Job and Ahab, 
may be figuratively understood. And yet, God might as well 
converse with Satan, as with Cain,, Balaam, &c. Job. i. ii. 
1 King xxii. Hosea's marriage might be figuratively transacted. 
Or, he might very honourably marry a woman, whose charac- 
ter was .good, but after marriage played the harlot : or an 
whorish woman, who had become remarkably penitent, Hos. i. 
iii. Isaiah's walking naked and barefoot, means no more than 
his going without his upper garment and shoes, Isa. xx. Eze- 
kiel's besieging a tile on which Jerusalem was pourtrayed, 430 
days lying on his sides, and living on coarse bread fired with 
dung, — and other symbolical actions of prophets, had no oddity 
before God : and if the people reckoned them strange, they 
were so much the better suited to alarm them, Ezek. iv. v. viii. 
xu. xxi. xxiv. Jer. xiii. xviii. xix. xxxv. &c. 

Christ's parables were not calculated to impose on his hearers, 
but, according to the manner of the ancients, and of the East, 
particularly to make them carefully listen to, easily remember, 
and deliberately consider, what he said, before they either re- 
ceived or rejected it. — A sword and contention were not strict- 
ly the proposed ends and proper effects of his coming into the 
world ; but merely the consequences occasioned by men's re- 
jection of his salutary instructions, Mat. x. 34. Luke xii. 49. 
He never allowed of any other eunuchism, but a voluntary and 
chaste abstinence from marriage, Mat. xix. 1 2. He never de- 
clared poor men happy, or rich men miserable, but on certain 
grounds perfectly agreeable to the Law of nature. Men's giv- 
ing all that they have to the poor, is in some cases agreeable to 
the Light of nature, and if they do it in obedience to the will 
of their benevolent God, he will not suffer them to be losers. 
Forgiveness of injuries is an high degree of benevolence recom- 
mended by Confucius, a famed Chinese philosopher.— More- 
over, Christ's expressions ordinarily alluding to things well 
known among them, could not but be much more clear to 
them, than they are to us, Luke xi. xii. xv. xvi. Mat. xix. v. 
vi. vii. xviii. 

No positwe institutions of worship, or any thing else in Scrip- 
ture, are contrary to the perfections of God, or injurious to the 
interests of men. 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OP RELIGION. f3 

1. God may knew sufficient reasons for such institutions, 
though our weak minds do not perceive or cannot comprehend 
them. — It would indeed be improper for him to exert his so- 
vereignty in appointing every ceremony or law, that could be 
devised, as that would mar his worship, and produce the utmost 
confusion. But it is very proper, that he manifest his own so- 
vereignty, to prove men's obedience, by some laws founded on. 
his mere will, since he of his mere will formed man. If magis- 
trates, for the greater welfare of their subjects, may enact some 
statutes which are not absolutely necessary in themselves, Why 
may not He, whose authority is absolutely independent and 
infinite, whose wisdom and goodness is unbounded, enact some 
positive laws for the advantage of his rational creatures? — espe- 
cially in religious matters, which most directly relate to his 
own honour, and hence are the less fit to be left to the di- 
rection of men's corrupt fancy or choice. 

2. The Jewish ceremonies were not instituted at, but most 
of them after their departure from Egypt, Jer. vii. 22, 23. 
Nor were they ever enjoined, as of equal importance with the 
duties of morality, Hos. vi. 6. Nor are they ever repre- 
sented as bad in themselves, though the Jews' manner of ob- 
serving them, or their adhering to them after the resurrection 
of Christ, be highly condemned, Hos. xi. 12. Isa. i. 11 — 15. and 
xxix. 13. and lxvi. 3. But, when attended to according to 
God's appointment, they were lasting and public memorials of 
the mighty works which he had done for that nation ; — and, 
by separating them from their heathen neighbours, checked 
their fondness for their abominable idolatry and superstition, to 
the rites of which, no doubt, some obscure Jewish ceremonies 
alluded. They also contributed to preserve his oracles from, 
corruption. — Some of these ceremonies represented his infinite 
majesty, and regulated their affairs under him, as their dread 
sovereign. But most of them were intended to prefigure Jesus 
Christ in his person, offices, estates, kingdom, and blessings, — 
to produce a longing for, and to prepare them to receive him, 
upon a due examination of his character. Even the burden- 
some load of these ceremonies tended to enlarge their convic- 
tions of guilt, to make them sensible of their extensive depen- 
dence on God, and earnestly to desire the promised deliverer 
with his easy yoke. — —Not one of these instituted ceremonies 
was dangerous. Without anv danger, circumcision sealed the 
covenant of grace, and that covenant of peculiar relation- to 
God with them, — distinguished them from other nations, and 
probably promoted their cleanliness, health, and fruitfulness. 
— Most, if not all the prohibited flesh, was unwholesome in that 
warm climate. — Their numerous purifications promoted their 
health and their vigour. — These, and their limited food, em- 



54 OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

blematically instructed them to avoid the contagion of vices.. — 
Their sacred oblations prefigured good things to come, promot- 
ed a sense of, and humiliation for sins, as also maintained their 
priests. The sin-offerings also served as a fine imposed on the 
offender. — No human sacrifices were allowed, but severely pro- 
hibited. — The Levites had an original right to the twelfth part 
of Canaan ; and as their sacred labours, and want of fields, pre- 
vented their gains by cultivation or civil business, it was meet 
they should have the Tithes from their brethren as their wages 
for their public service. 

The positive institutions of Christianity are but very few, 
and evidently reasonable. Reason requires that men who are 
endowed with social dispositions, should worship God in a so- 
cial manner ; and Revelation prescribes but one day in seven 
for that purpose. The ancient Sabbath on the seventh day of the 
week, commemorated God's finishing his work of Creation, and 
represented the order of labour and rest in the covenant of 
works. The Christian Sabbath, on the first day of the week, 
commemorates the resurrection of Christ, and represents the 
order of rest, comfort, and service in the covenant of grace. — 
These Sabbaths being made for man, God on them allows his 
own worship to give place to works of necessity and mercy to 
men.. — Religion being the principal business and the distin- 
guishing characteristic of mankind, it is highly proper that it 
should be explained and inculcated by stated ministers regularly 
called, and wholly addicted to teach and watch over others, in 
order to promote virtue among them. — Neither the Old, nor 
the New Testament, will allow any of these, to introduce a sin- 
gle law or rite of their own invention into the doctrine, wor- 
ship, discipline, or government of the church; but requires them 
to explain, inculcate, and apply the general and particular pre- 
scriptions of Jesus Christ ; and admonishes their hearers to re- 
ceive nothing from them implicitly, but carefully to examine 
all their doctrines and appointments by the oracles of God. 
And to render it their interest, as well as their duty, to detect 
every attempt to impose on them, the burden of a minister's 
maintenance is laid upon them, and in ordinary cases falls hea- 
viest on those that are, or ought to be most capable of trying 
them. — Church officers are also expressly forbid to usurp any 
secular dominion, or to act as spiritual lards over their peo- 
ple. — The sacraments of the New Testament are but two, and 
easily understood, — they clearly commemorate what Christ is 
to us, and hath done and will do for us ; they represent, seal 
and apply his spiritual purification and nourishment to our 
souls, — of which the material symbols, water, bread, wine, or 
other useable liquid, if wine cannot be had, are every where to 
he found. 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. S3 

3. It is impossible that God's prescribing a few positive in- 
stitutions relative to things indifferent in themselves, but cal- 
culated to promote his glory and our good, can be inconsistent 
with his mild government, which is infinite goodness. Instead 
of an iiifinilelif high and supreme governour, he would rather be 
a slave, if he be allowed no power to forbid or require any 
thing indifferent, or to appoint a few rites in his own worship, 
to render it more solemn and striking to our senses. — It can 
never be inconsistent with his infinite wisdom to order a few 
helps of instruction to his subjects in their imperfect state. — 
His wisdom and his power can render them sufficiently useful ; 
though our weak minds should not discern how, yet positive 
institutions, as well as thousands of things in nature, may be 
very useful. — If God never enact positive institutions but for 
a season, and never set them aside till his end in appointing 
them be gained, they can never disparage his immutability, any 
more than the changes of seasons, summer and winter, day and 
night, do. — If these positive institutions represent God's dis- 
pleasure with sin, in the most striking manner, and his infi- 
nite condescension to men's weakness, in the forms of his own 
worship, it is impossible that they can encourage unworthy 
thoughts of him. 

4. As these positive institutions clearly represent God's ah* 
solute authority over us, and, in our fallen state, excite as 
well as assist us to observe the laxv of nature, — they can never 
derogate from its authority or honour, or substitute supersti- 
tion in the room of the important duties which it requires. — 
Being appointed by God for promoting his own honour and 
the welfare of mankind, they can never be arbitrary or tyrant 
nical. — Am I an enemy to reason., because I obey my Maker's 
commandment; — or to virtue, because I use the means which 
he hath appointed for its advancement; — or to the Law of na- 
ture, because I observe his directions for the better fulfilling 
of it ? Doth the Scripture extrude the divine law of nature 
for the sake of positive institutions, when it expressly repre*- 
sents the observance of them, as much less important than the 
duties required by that law of nature, nay, as of no impor- 
tance, but in so far as they promote that which is absolutely 
moral and virtuous? Hos. v. 6. and vi. 6. 1 Cor. vi. 13. Col. 
ii. 20. Gal. v. 6. and vi. 15. 1 Pet. iii. 21. Rem. ii. 28, 29.— 
Or, how can the exact observation of rites prescribed by God 
himself, in his own worship, either tempt to, or necessarily 
introduce our observance of human inventions in it ? Know- 
eth not God better than men, what rites are proper in his own 
worship? Doth not his appointment of some self-indifferent 
rites clearly exclude men from all power to appoint any such ? 
Doth not his appointment of them more effectually prevent 






56 OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OP RELIGION. 

our idolatrous esteem of them, than if they were our own in J 
ventions? — Ought we to reject his institutions, on which we 
way crave and expect his blessing, in order to introduce the 
foolish, the unhallowed, but more numerous inventions of 
men I — And ought the power of instituting rites in his worship 
to reside in weak and wicked men, rather than in the infinitely 
wise, powerful, and sovereign God ? 

5. Though these positive institutions, as well as every other 
blessing, may be abused by men to their own hurt, that does 
not render them hurtful in themselves. — Astonishing ! Must re- 
gard to institutions, which lead men to fellowship with and 
imitation of an infinitely gracious God, necessarily prompt 
men to anathematize and damn one another for trifles r — Gan 
zeal for the ordinances if God render men furious bigots for 
human inventions, which are set up in opposition to them ? — 
Whether have the zealous adherers to God's institutions, or 
the contemners of them, been the most furious persecutors, 
from age to age ? Was it a zealous attachment to the rites 
prescribed in the gospel of Christ, that rendered the Emperors 
of Rome and Germany, the Kings of Persia, of France, and 
even of Britain, or the Dukes of Savoy, &c. furious persecu- 
tors of the Christians, Waldenses, Protestants, &c. ? How 

can our reception of God's institutions, upon sufficient evidence 
of his having appointed them, lead us to embrace diabolical 
or human delusions ? Are Quakerish rejecters of God's posi- 
tive institutions the least susceptible of delusion in the world ? 
How can these positive ordinances of God be a real bur- 
den to men, and render them miserable, when they are real 
helps in their observing the law of nature ? — If all the advan- 
tages of life be attended with corresponding hazards, why 
ought not men's having these helps to be attended with pro- 
per punishment, if they abuse them ? — Are reasonable creatures 
more miserable than brutes, because, if they abuse their rea- 
son, they are in danger of inward grief and the like in this 
world, and of eternal damnation in the next ? Being clear- 
ly prescribed by God, these institutions expose no man to dis- 
tressful doubts concerning them. — Even the authority of their 
administrators is for the most part easily discernible. By 
their fruits we may know them.^— And though several of their 
circumstances, time, place, &c. be incapable of demonstration ^ 
many of the laws of nature are equally incapable of it. And it 
is certain, that our infidel opponents believe and practise many 
things, the propriety of which is infinitely less capable of de- 
monstration. 

The revelation contained in our Bibles is not only reason- 
able in its mattek, but also in its eorm. The principal arti 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OP RELIGION. 57 

ties on which they rest and depend are so plainly declared in some 
passages or other, nay, in several, that every serious inquirer 
under the influence of the Holy Ghost, may understand them 
sufficiently to his own salvation. But some less important 
truths are obscurely represented, that the most learned may- 
find reason before God to blush because of their ignorance; 
and that the friends of revelation, notwithstanding their differ- 
ent views of them, may be excited to exercise mutual charity. 
Scarcely one of the more important truths is fully decla- 
red in one passage, — that men may be obliged to search the 
whole Scripture, and carefully compare all the passages to- 
gether, which treat of*a subject. — In order to make men care- 
fully observe the providences of God, and that their fulfil- 
ment may never be prevented or counterfeited, it was proper, 
that many of the predictions should be considerably obscure. 
And to make us diligently search and compare one passage 
with another, it was also proper, that some precepts should 
not be altogether plain. Some hints are repeated without 
apparent necessity, and some less important things, which 
might be of more use to the Jews than to us, are more clearly 
revealed than some more important ones. The same may be 
found in the writings of Homer, and other celebrated authors. 
— Indeed, the dictates of revelation are not laid down in re- 
gular propositions, nor are they mathematically demonstrated. 
But no more are the laws of nature. And some trifling pro- 
positions of Euclid are more capable of such demonstration 
than either of them. — Revelation doth not exhibit the rules of 
morality in a loose manner, but gives directions to persons in 
every station of life, to magistrates and subjects, to husbands 
and wives, to parents and children, to masters and servants, 
&c. — It supposeth men under the civil and municipal laws of 
their country, and exhibits general rules, so framed by infi- 
nite wisdom, as to suit all particular cases. Nor, without be- 
coming useless for bulk, could it descend to every particular 
duty. Even the many figurative and parabolical expressions 
of Scripture point out its antiquity, and that the Hebrew and 
Greek copies of it are the true originals. — Being drawn from 
things well known to the Jews and to the Greeks, who were 
accustomed to such figures, they exhibited their matter in a 
most obvious and striking manner. — And whatever appears ob- 
scure in them, is elsewhere more clearly expressed. Our infi- 
dels do not reckon the works of Homer, Cicero, Quintilian, 
Ossian, &c. one whit the worse, that they abound with figura- 
tive language. — Commentators and divines have indeed con- 
tended about the sense of several texts : but their own pride, 
prejudice, and itch after novelties, not the obscurity of reve- 
lation, have occasioned their dissensions.— But, have not our 

L 



48 OP trie RGvEALIED STANDARD OP REIJtGtoft 

heathen doctors had their own contests in almost every article 
of the law of nature? Had they not 280 different sentiments 
concerning that fundamental point of the chief good and ])rm- 
cipal end of all human actions ? Never did divines annex 
as many Interpretations to a text of Scripture. — The Scrip- 
tures are riot laid down in a systematical form, though some of 
Paul's epistles come near to it. Such a form would neither 
comport with the majesty of God their author, nor with the 
weak capacities of some men.— It would not shut up men to 
a diligent comparison of Scripture texts. It would not admit 
of such delightfully diversified connections of divine truths, 
nor represent them so suitably to the diversified conditions of 
men J nor Could they be so usefully illustrated with a variety of 
historical facts* 

The revelation contained in our Bibles is also reasonable in 
the nianiter of its exhibition. As wickedness prevailed in the 
world, God enlarged his supernatural oracles, and illuminations, 
in opposition to it. In the infancy of the world, litde of revela- 
tion was granted : and as the men to whom it Was given, lived 
many hundreds of years, the conveyance of it was entrusted to 
thetf memories. When larger portions of it were exhibited, 
and the lives of the receivers shortened, it Was committed to 
Writing for its rfjofc effectual preservation and propagation. 
It was gradually bestowed td make men long after its increase, 
and especially for the promised Messiah to usher in its full 
blaze.— ^Before his incarnation, multitudes of promises, pro- 
phecies, and tokens were given, by which men might be pre* 
pared to discern and receive him. — -The most of it was exhibit- 
ed at seasons, and in places, where multitudes were awakened 
by miracles or alarming providences, — or had peace and quiet- 
ness to examine it, and when the church had peculiar need of 
comfort and instruction. — The whole New Testament was pub- 
lished when the world, far and wide, b)' benevolent miracles, 
and by the terrible calamities of the Jewish nation which re- 
jected it, were awakened. 

Notwithstanding the revelation contained in our Bibles be 
thus reasonable in its matter, k>xm, and exhibition, — yet 
if a' doctrine be once revealed with proper marks of its divine 
authority, we ought to embrace it> even though we be incapa- 
ble to perceive its reasonableness, as it is certain, that God 
may know and reveal many things, which our reason, while it 
is so weak and so corrupted, cannot distinctly apprehend. — If 
any declaration have sufficient evidence of its originating from 
God, it is horrid presumption for us to suspend our belief till 
we have examined and found it corresponding to our own 
apprehensions of reasonableness. Bolingbroke, a noted infidel, 






OF THE KEVEALED STANDAUD OF HELICtfON. 59 

excellently observes, " That it would pass for downright mad* 
" ness.. it we were not accustomed to it, to hear creatures of 
ik the lowest intellectual form, pretend to penetrate the dc. 
u signs, fathom the depths, and unveil the mysteries of infinite 
14 wisdom." 

VI. The revelation contained in our Bibles is perfectly qRE» 
P1BLK. The several parts of it are so connected, that we cannot 
receive any one without receiving the whole, — every part tending 
to establish the credit of another.-— In the New Testament vy« 
have the history of the fulfilment of the typical and verbal pre- 
dictions of the Old. Nay, in each Testament, we have not a 
little historical fulfilment of some preceding predictions. — If, 
therefore, we receive the predictions, we must receive the hisr 
tory of their fulfilment as credible. If we accept the history of 
the fulfilment, we cannot reject the predictions as forged. 

As the transactions of the New Testament lie nearest our 
times, let us first examine its credibility. — That Christianity is 
no modern invention, but was professed about 1700 years ago, 
is attested by Clemens Komanus, Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin 
Martyr< Irenaeus, and Tatian, Christians, — and by Tacitus, 
Sueton, Tiberianus Serenus, Pliny the younger, Epictetus, 
Celsus, Porphyry, Hierocles, Marcus Antoninus, and Julian, 
heathens. — The once extant acts of Pilate, — Tacitus, Sueton, 
Lampridius, Porphyry, Celsus, Hierocles and Pliny, as well as 
Josephus the Jew, mention Jesus Christ as then Jiving and 

heading a sect of followers Nor could such multitudes have 

agreed to profess his self-denying religion, if they had not had 
the fullest conviction of his existence, — Many authors of that 
period wrote on other subjects, which did not lead them to 
speak of these things. And many more which perhaps men? 
tioned them, are irrecoverably lost, 

It is sufficiently credible, that some principal publishers of 
the Christian religion wrote books bearing the designations of 
those contained in our New Testament. As that age was very 
remarkable for an itch of writing, we cannot reasonably imagine 
that the zealous Christians of it, took no care to record the 
amazing transactions of Jesus Christ their Lord, and his fol- 
Jower6.-T-.In the writings ascribed to Barnabas, Clemens-Ro- 
manus, Hermas, Ignatius, Papias, Justin Martyr, Diognetus, 
— churches of Smyrna, Lyons, Vienne, Dipnysius of Corinth^ 
Tatian, Hegesippus, Melito, Irenaeus, Athenagoras, Miltiades, 
Theophilus, Pantaenus, Clemens- Alexandrinus, Polycrates, 
Quadratus, Aristides, Apollinaris and Symmachus, — whp flou- 
rished before A. D. 20©, while the apostolical manuscripts were 
still extant, we find multitudes of passages quoted from, or 
allusions made to the New Testament- Even, the epistle to the 



69 OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

Hebrews, the 2d of Peter, the 2d and 3d of John, and that of 
Jude, which being wrote to private persons, or to Jews, were 
the last known publickly by the churches, are quoted or acknow- 
ledged, though not so much as other, books, by the earliest of 
the Christian writers. — Celsus, the furious opposer of Christi- 
anity, about A. D. 150, produces a vast number of quotations 
from the New Testament, in order to render it ridiculous. — 
Moreover, the most of these books being written for, or to, so- 
cieties of Christians, could not possibly be forged or easily cor- 
rupted. — Their temporary doubts concerning some of them, till 
thev got full proof of their apostolical original ; — their zealous 
rejection of spurious productions, — and their putting the great- 
est distance between these inspired books and those of their 
principal doctors, — fully manifest their care to admit nothing for 
divinely inspired, without sufficient proof. Whenever they dis- 
covered a forgery of a sacred book, such as the pretended acts 
of Paul and Thecla, they speeddy warned all the churches 
around to prevent their being imposed on. They -were so re- 
markably zealous for their sacred books, that no, not the most 
exquisite, tortures could force them to destroy or give them up 
'to destruction. Nor did their most inveterate enemies*pretend 
to dispute their genuineness. 

It is no less evident, that the Jewish religion in its extensive 
form was introduced by Moses, and continued in Canaan for 
1500 years, before it gave place to the Christian. Philo, Jo- 
sephus, and many other Jewish writers, who lived about sixteen 
or seventeen hundred years ago, — Strabo, Justin, Pliny the 
elder, Tacitus, Juvenal, Longinus, Numenius, Chalcidius, the 
Orphic verses, Diodorus, Manetho, Cheremon, Apollonius, 
Lysimachus, Hermippus, Dion Cassius, Philemon, Polemon, 
Appion, Ptolemy, Hellanicus, Philocorus, Castor, Thallus, and 
Polyhistor, heathens, mention Moses or the Jewish antiquities. 
The Jews had sacred books among them of the same de- 
signations and contents with those in our Old Testament. — 
The general division of them into Moses and the prophets, or 
Moses and the prophets, and Psalms, is expressly mentioned 
in the New Testament, Luke xvi. 29, 31. and xxiv. 27, 44. 
Acts xxvi. 22. and xxviii. 23. John i. 45. And in it, we have 
quotations from all of them except Judges, Ezra, Nehemiah, 
Esther, and perhaps Chronicles, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, and the 
Song of Solomon, — to the expressions of which last, there are 

sundry allusions. Josephus the Jew, Melito, Origvn, Atha- 

nasius, Epiphanius, Jerome, and other Christian doctors, that 
lived near to the apostolic age, in their lists, more or less 
expressly include all the books of our Old Testament, Ruth 
being comprehended in Judges, and Nehemiah reckoned the 
2d book of Ezra. Moses' zeal and faithfulness naturally led 



S 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 6*. 

him to write his own laws, which were so numerous and so im- 
portant. — The ancient heathen authors sufficiently attest that 
he did write books. Later passages of Scripture prove that he 
wrote these very five books ascribed to him in our Bibles. 
2 Chron. xxiii. 18. Dan. ix. 11, 13. Mai. iv. 4. Mark vii. 10. 
and xii. 19. Luke xvi. 29, 31. and xx. 28, 37. and xxiv. 27,44* 
John i. 45 and v. 46, 47. Acts xxvi. 22. and xxviii. 23. 

The writings of both Old and New Testament have been 
faithfully conveyed to us. Those of the Old possess suf- 
ficient marks ol the purity of their ancient Hebrew or Chaldaic 
originals. In the Talmud and other Jewish writings, we find 
multitudes of passages quoted as they stand in our Hebrew 
Bibles. Even in translations, these books retain manifold 
marks of their Eastern origin. For many ages the Jews had 
prophets, biassed by no temporal considerations, ;ible and ready 
to detect every corruption of their sacred books, had it been 
attempted. Almost three thousand years ago, the Israelites 
were divided into the two contending parties of Israel and 
Judah, which ordinarily hating each other, would not have 
failed to raise horrible outcries, had their opponents dared to 
vitiate the laws of their God, and the writings of their darling 
prophets, Moses, Samuel, David, &c. — Scarcely had the Is- 
raelites been carried captive to Assyria, when the Samaritans, 
who peopled their desolated country, procured for themselves a 
copy of the books of Moses, which, to this day, generally con- 
tinues the same as the Hebrew. The hatred and contention 
which afterward subsisted between the Pharisees and Sadducees, 
rendered it still more impossible for any to attempt to corrupt 
the oracles of God, without bringing a publick odium upon 

himself. About two thousand years ago, a Greek translation 

of these books was published and spread, which, in the main, 
agrees with our Hebrew ones. — The Chaldaic paraphrases, 
particularly the literal one of Onkelos, which was composed 
about eighteen hundred years ago, farther tended to secure these 
books from corruption. Notwithstanding all that Christ and 
his apostles inveighed against the wickedness of the Jews, they 
never charged them with losing or corrupting a single text in 
their Bible.— —The animosity which has ever since prevailed 
between the Jews and the Christians hath rendered it impossi- 
ble for either to vitiate these sacred originals, without being 

shamefully detected. When a Romish printer, about two 

centuries ago, attempted but to alter a single letter for one al- 
most similar, hu' into hi', Gen. iii. 15. what a dreadful noise did 
the Jews and others raise through almost all Europe! 

Had the Jews attempted to corrupt their sacred books, it 
would certainlv have been in those passages in which the fear- 
ful wickedness of their nation is represented, and Jesus of Na- 



W OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

zareth, not any temporal deliverer, is revealed as the promised 
Messiah. But in none of these can we find any evidence of 
concealment or corruption. JNay, though, since the spread of 
Christianity, the Jews have been set upon explaining these 
Scriptures in favour of their own delusions, they have been 
zealous, even to superstition, for preserving them in their ori* 
ginals, pure and entire. — About A. D. 500, when, through the 
general ignorance of the Christian doctors, they had a fair op* 
portunity of corrupting them, we find their JVlasorite Rabbins 
zealously occupied in numbering and marking the letters, that 
so not one of them might be lost or altered, in that or any fu-» 
ture age. 

The corrupting the originals of either the Old or New Tes 
tament by Christians, is absolutely incredible. Such were the 
multitudes of copies, readers, hearers, and even sects among 
them, that none could have succeeded, unless he could have 
made bis alterations to have suddenly started into all the many 
thousands of different copies, and into all the different memories 
of hearers and readers at once.— When Macedonius attempted 
to vitiate them in the 5th century, how quickly was the alarm 
sounded far and wide, — and the few corrupted copies detected, 

and corrected, or destroyed . ? -As all the furiously opponent 

sects of Christianity pretended to bring their proofs in religion 
from Scripture, &c. how could they ever have suffered one ano- 
ther to forge or alter it, without raising an horrible outcry, 
and a wide-spread accusation !— None of the terms, about which 
they so much contended, as Hqmoousion, Homoiousion, Me- 
ter Theou, or even Filxoojjk, are found in our Bibles.— — . 
Besides, so many quotations of Scripture, the same with respect 
to sense as in our books, still remain in the writings of Chris- 
tian Fathers before A. D. 600, as could almost restore the 
whole contents of the Bible, though every copy of it were lost. 

Perhaps indeed all the apostles were dead before the canon 
of Scripture was fully fixed in the Christian church j but their 
original autographs might be extant and well known, It is 
certain, that in the 2d century of the Christian ./Era, Theo- 
philus of Antioch in Syria, Irenseus in France, Tertullian of 
Carthage, and Clemens of Alexandria in Egypt, quote the 
very same sacred books which we now have j which proves, 
that copies of them were then spread through all the Chris- 
trian churches in Asia, Africa, and Europe. In the 3d and 
4th centuries, we have eleven catalogues of these canonical 
books, seven of which are the same as in our Bibles. Ori- 
gen, about A. D, 210, hath them all but James and Jude. 
Eusebius, about 3 J 5, hath them all; but says that, though 
generally received, some doubted of the epistles of James and 
Jude, 3d by Peter* and 3d by John. Cyril, about 346, and the 



6F THE REVEALED STANDARD OP ItELlGlOtf. fl 

council of Laodicea, in 364, have them all but the Revelation* 
Athunasius, about 315, Nazianzen, 375, Jerome, 382, Kuftin, 
390, Augustine and the council of Carthage, in 394, have them 
all t but the act of council, if genuine, gives too much honour 
to some apocrvphal books. 

The transcribers of these sacred books being no more infal- 
libly inspired than our printers of them, the comparer of a 
multitude of copies cannot therefore fail to find a number of va- 
rious readings. By a comparison of some of the best Hebrew 
copies we were long ago informed of eight or ten hundred in 
the Old Testament. By a comparison of about 600 copies, Dr. 
Kennicot hath furnished us with many thousands more. From 
about 125 copies, Dr. Mill hath produced not a few thousands 
in the New Testament, which have been reduced and improved 
by Kuster, and especially by Bengelius. The collections of 
various readings by professed Christians, mark their zeal in 
examining the books which they adopt as inspired ; and too 
often not a little of their itch after novelties, multitudes of 
their various reading3 being collected from manuscripts, and 
even translations of very little importance or exactness, if not 
sometimes from their own mere fancy and supercilious inclina- 
tion to criticism. Meanwhile, a judicious comparison of many 
copies, which are tolerably exact, is an excellent method for 
correcting a book. Terence, in the different manuscripts of 
which 28,000 various readings have been found, is reckoned 
the most correct of all our Latin classics. Had 125 copies of it 
been compared, the variations might have amounted to 50,000, 
though it be scarcely larger than a 3d part of our New Testa- 
ment. None of all the various readings detected in the He- 
brew and Greek copies of our Bible deprive us of one article of 
our faith, or establish a contrary errour, but chiefly relate to let- 
ters, accents, and the like. It is even an evidence of God's mar- 
vellous preservation of the Scriptures, that the transcribers have 
been permitted to fall into so many trifling mistakes, and not- 
withstanding preserved from capital blunders. 

It i9 absurd to imagine, that length of time in the conveyance 
of a book, diminishes its credibility. From what hath been 
observed, the safe conveyance of our sacred Scriptures is ten 
thousand times more probable, than the safe conveyance of Ho- 
mer, Herodotus, Thucydides, or Xenophon, who all represent 
Greece in a state very different from the present. If then these 
authors have not, for more than two thousand years past, lost 
one ten thousandth part of their original credibility, doubtless, 
the Scriptures have not either lost one ten thousandth part of 
theirs. And meanwhile, the exact accomplishment of prophe* 
cies hath much increased the evidence of their divine orgina« 
tion. 



64 OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

Printed copies of our Bible are of as much authority as any 
manuscripts extant, or any other not taken from the auto- 
graphs of the prophets and apostles. Scarce ever a transcriber 
took the tenth or twentieth part of care and pains, in comparing 
copies, or in correcting his work, which hath been taken on the 
principal editions of the Hebrew and Greek Testaments.- — To 
promote their own gain, and in the case of private writs, secur- 
ing civil property, which may be easily corrupted, lawyers do 
not admit copies of copies as authentic : But that can by no 
means prove, that copies of the most publick and incorruptible 
copies of writings, which relate to the most publick interests, 

should not be sustained as authentic. If such copies be not 

admitted proofs of a correspondent original, and the mistakes 
of one copy allowed to be corrected from others more exact, 
every ancient writing in the world, and most of the modern 
ones, must pass for forgeries ; as few can produce, or even swear 
that they saw the originals. 

The conveyance of Revelation by words written or unwrit- 
ten, doth, not render it changeable, uncertain, unintelligible, or 
useless. Dead languages, as those in which the Scriptures are 
written, are not changeable in their meaning. Nay, supposing 
these languages were still used, and so the meaning of their 
words more changeable, the sense of disputed phrases or terms 
might be traced up to that age in which the Scriptures were 
written. — Nor can varying the sense of a few words, any more 
than a mistake of a transcriber, prove that Revelation is not cre- 
dible, or of divine authority, — any more than the smallest mis- 
take in human writings, or in our apprehensions of them, can 
prove that no regard is to be paid to them. — Writing is so far 
from corrupting Revelation, that it is a most excellent mean for 
the safe conveyance of it, as well as of the dictates of Socrates, 
Plato, &c. 

Our revealed religion is not founded on mere sounds. We 
have the law of nature in our breasts as well as infidels have. But, 
why may not God communicate his will to us, in a manner like 
to that in which be enableth us to communicate ours, one to 
another ? If we can procure certain knowledge by conference 
with philosophers, why may we not procure it as certain by pe- 
rusing the oracles of God ? — If it require skill in languages and 
customs of nations, to translate the Scriptures rightly, is not 
this also necessary to render the dictates of Socrates, Plato, 
Aristotle, Seneca, Epictetus, and Antoninus, relative to the 
law of nature, plain to an English reader or hearer ? — If the 
translators of Revelation differ about the meaning of some of 
its words, the inquirers into the law of nature differ much 
more with respect to the forms, motives, manner and ends, of 
that virtue, which it requires. — Though the common people be 
Dot capable to judge as to the exactness of a Scripture transla- 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. .65 

tion, they who are peculiarly interested in detecting impostures 
may be capable enough. — Nay the reasonableness, Credibility, 
and divine authority of the Scripture are so deeply marked, 
that no translation can conceal them.— Though I should not be 
capable of accurately tracing the safe conveyance of Revela- 
tion, common sense may enable me to discern the reasonable- 
ness, credibility, or even divine authority of that matter, which 
is contained in the translation which I understand — And it is 
no despicable evidence of the credibility and safe conveyance 
of Revelation, and of the rectitude of our yublick translation 
of it, that our infidel doctors, who pretend to so much sense 
and learning, have hitherto produced nothing but such uncan- 
did and pitiful quibbles, in opposition to them. 

Revelation can no more be hurt by clergymen believing and 
spreading it> than the light of nature can be, by their posses- 
sion of it. — Revelation requires every man to see for himself, — . 
to try all things and holdfast that which is good. — It doth not 
force men into religion by clerical influence, but enlightens their 
minds, and attracts their hearts, by the manifestation and ap- 
plication of its truths. Nor, numbers compared, will it be 
found, that more Christians are implicit followers, than are 
among infidels. 

The facts recorded, and the doctrines taught in our Bi- 
bles, are credible in themselves. The writers of the Old Tes- 
tament were concerned in many of the transactions which they 
relate. They published their accounts, while the facts were 
fresh in men's memory. In the simplicity of their representa- 
tions, and in recording their own and their friends' shameful 
mistakes, they discover the utmost candour. They never ap- 
pear to have had hopes of, or to have aimed at worldly advan- 
tage, in their writings ; but would have exposed their character^ 
if they had forged any thing. — Many of the facts which they 
relate, were so extraordinary, that they could never have been 
credited, without the fullest evidence. Nevertheless their re- 
port was firmly believed by that very nation, whose carnal in- 
terest and honour strongly tempted them to disprove and reject 
it as a reproach to them, and as binding on them an intolerable 
load of ceremonies. 

The divine legislation of Moses, being the most remarkable 
fact of that dispensation, and a foundation of many others, — ■ 
his character and narrative are most clearly and fully establish- 
ed. He always appears most candid and disinterested. He 
honestly relates his own incestuous descent, — his opposition to 
God's call of him to be the deliverer of Israel, — his froward 
speeches to God, or to the people, Exod. iii. iv. vi. Num. xi. 
xx. Though he might have been prince, if not king, of Egypt ; 
and might have had his family multiplied into a great nation at 

M 



66 OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION 

the expense of his Hebrew brethren, he declined it, and left 
his sons no higher than mere Levites. He represents his belov- 
ed nation as monsters of ingratitude, of perverse murmuring, 
and outrageous rebellion against God ; and foretells, that alter 
his death, they would become still more wicked and wretched. 
What then, but the irresistible force of truth could prompt the 
Jews then, and ever since, tenaciously to adhere to his writ- 
ings ? — How possibly could he, and about two or three mil- 
lions more, Israelites and strangers, have been Jirmhj persuad- 
ed by mere fancy, that they had seen the land of Egypt smit- 
ten with ten dreadful plagues, — of water turned into blood ; — 
of frogs ; — lice ; — flies ; — murrain of cattle ; — boils ; — hail ; — 
locusts ; — darkness ; — and death of the first-born ; — that they 
had seen the Red-sea divided, and had walked safely through 
the midst of it, while the Egyptians, who pursued them, were 
every one drowned ; that they had seen the most terrible light-, 
nings, and heard the most dreadful thunders, at Mount Sinaj, 
and heard God himself, in the most awful manner, proclaim 
the ten commandments, — that they had lived forty years in the 
Arabian wilderness, in tents, fed with manna from heaven, and 
With water from flinty rocks, — their clothes never waxing old, 
or their feet becoming unfit for travel ; — and that their repeat- 
ed murmurings against God had been there punished with the 
most dreadful plagues? — Or, how, without the fullest persua- 
sion of these strange events, could they have so readily and so 
long submitted to the most expensive oblations and the most 
burdensome rites of worship, as a thankful commemoration ? 

In fine, notwithstanding all the care of the Jews to 

conceal their revelations from their heathen neighbours, Bero- 
sus, Abydenus, Hecatseus, Hesiod, Herodotus, Xenophon, Ni- 
colas-Damascenus and Polyhistor, if not also Sanchoniatho, 
have furnished us with remarkable hints as to the creation and 
fall of man, — the division of time into 7ceeks, — the giants, — 
deluge, — and tower of Babel; the destruction of Sod m and 
cities adjacent; circumcision; — Abraham, Joshua, Bavid y 
Solomon, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, &c. 

Jesus Christ is the Founder and principal subject of the 
New Testament revelations. Corresponding to the types and 
predictions of the Old Testament, he appeared as the Messiah, 
God in our nature. Notwitstanding his external meanness 
and debasement, Zacharias, Simeon, Anna, John Baptist, nay, 
angels and God himself, avowed him to be the Son of God and 
the Saviour of mankind. He not only declared himself such, 
but, by his marvellous and authoritative instructions, his be- 
nevolent miracles, almost innumerable, — his resurrection from 
the dead and ascension t:> heaven, — his miraculous effusion of 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OP RELIGION. 67 

the Holy Ghost upon his disciples, — the subsequent spread of 
his gospel, with the tremendous ruin of his Jewish opposers 
and murderers, all in an exact fulfilment of his predictions, — 
he fully attested it. — Notwithstanding the most dreadful and 
often repeated abuse, which he suffered from men, his whole 
behaviour was so holy, harmless and undefiled, and so benevo- 
lent, that neither Juilas, nor his Jewish prosecutors, nor Pilate, 

nor Herod, could find any fault in him. Nay, such is the 

draught of his character by the Evangelists, so candid and so 
simple, and yet so sublime and suitable to a God in our nature 
and a surety for us, that in such circumstances, the incarnation, 
obedience, suffering and death of the Son of God, however as- 
tonishing, appear much more credible to reason, — than that 
such a sublime and virtuous character, of which there hath ne- 
ver been an adequate pattern in the world, should be forged by 
persons who had never seen or heard of any thing similar j — 
nay, by persons who had no education, and whose natural ca- 
pacities, perhaps, were very weak. 

His resurrection, which is the principal point in the 
Christian scheme, and which proves all the rest, was, and is 
supported by every proof, — from enemies, — from friends, — 
from angels, — and from subsequent events, to this day. — Mul- 
titudes saw him nailed to, and hanging on his cross. The sol- 
diers found him dead, when they came to break his legs. Mul- 
titudes saw, without much labour and noise, his corpse interred 
in a new grave, hewn out of a rock, which could not be enter- 
ed but by the door. — While a large stone, solemnly sealed by 
the rulers of Judah, shut him up, a strong watch of enemies 
deprived his friends, even had they been willing, of every op- 
portunity to carry off his dead body. — Early, on the 3d day, a 
dreadful earthquake, and an apparition of angels, terrified the 
guard and made them run off. Mean while his body was 
gone, and his grave clothes left in good order, as by a deliberate 
remover. Many virtuous persons arose from their graves in 
Jerusalem, and appeared to the citizens. The guard, having 
informed the Jewish rulers of what they had seen, heard, and 
felt, they largely bribed them to conceal the truth, and to pre- 
tend, that Jesus's disciples had stolen away his dead body, 
while they were sleeping. Nothing could be more evident 
falsehood : for how durst any of them, — how could all of them 
sleep on a watch, — a watch of so great importance ? If they 
were all asleep, how could they know when or who, carried off 
his dead body ? 

Notwithstanding repeated warnings and predictions, his dis- 
ciples were so exceedingly averse to believe the truth of his re- 
surrection, that scarcely their missing his body in the grave, 
the testimony of angels, the attestation of brethren, and even 



68 OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

the sight of their own eyes could convince them, till his repeated 
appearances to them, and familiar converse with them, and at 
last, the miraculous descent of the Holy Ghost on them, ren- 
dered them incapable to doubt. — Had he not risen from the 
dead, they had had the strongest grounds to be highly offended 
with, and incensed against him, as one who had deceitfully ex- 
posed them to so much disappointment, reproach, hatred and 
danger. — But, finding themselves suddenly qualified to work 
miracles, discern spirits, speak divers languages, and to dis- 
course of religion and virtue in a manner infinitely superiour to 
Socrates, and all his philosophical brethren ; — finding, that they, 
who just before, on the slightest temptations, had deserted or 
denied him, were filled with such zeal and boldness in his cause 
as to fear nothing but sin, — they, contrary to every temptation 
of worldly honour, profit and pleasure, and deliberately rushing 
upon loss, reproach, hatred, poverty, persecution and death, — 
jn the most plain, and publick manner, on the spot where, and 
in a few weeks after it happened, published his resurrection, 
and charged the Jewish rulers and people with the murder of 
their own promised and divine Messiah. — Notwithstanding 
they had no carnal power nor influence, but had been held ab- 
solutely contemptible, multitudes, who had the strongest incli- 
nation, and the fullest opportunity to detect any imposture in 
this point, firmly believed their report, confessed themselves 
the murderers of the Son of God, and humbly applied to him 
for forgiveness and eternal salvation. — Notwithstanding all their 
craft, malice and fury, the Jewish rulers could find no other re- 
futation of the report, than imprisonments, scourgings, threat- 
ening, and murders of the publishers. 

These preachers declared, that which they had seen and heard, 
in which common sense will not admit of their being deceived. 
For, how could they fancy themselves into a number of meet- 
ings and conversations with their risen Master ? How could 
they, by mere fancy, fix themselves in the most distinct assur- 
ance, that they had heard him in a manner peculiar to himself, 
utter so many gracious words, and had seen him work so many 
miracles in such different times, places, and persons ? How 
could they fancy themselves into an actual and evident posses- 
sion of the miraculous gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost ? 
How could Saul of Tarsus, a man of great learning and sense, 
dream himself into a belief of his miraculous conversion, into 
the knowledge of languages which he had never learned, into 
the possession of apostolick powers ; into an humble but bold 
zeal for the interests and glory of Jesus Christ, whom just be- 
fore, in his cause and members, he had so heartily hated and fu- 
riously persecuted? Their exalted instructions and prudent con- 
duct sufficiently prove, that none of them were such idiots, as 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 69 

to be the fit dupes of imposture. — The marks of integrity, sim- 
plicity, benevolence, and virtue, so conspicuous in their con- 
duct, sufficiently prove, that they had no disposition to de- 
ceive others, in matters so injurious to the honour of God and 
the souls of men. Could ever the certain, the sole prospect of 
hatred, reproach, imprisonment, tortures, and violant death, — 
of rebukes of conscience, — and of eternal damnation, have 
prompted them, with all their might, to propagate that which 
they knew to be false and uncertain ? The number of those 
preachers was considerable, and of their followers many ten 
thousands about Jerusalem. Notwithstanding repeated solici- 
tations, threatenings, tortures, &c none of them, however unfit 
they were to keep secrets, proposed to discover any fraud. — 
Judas indeed betrayed his Master, but quickly repented, pub- 
lickly and solemnly protesting his innocence, and then he hang- 
ed himself under desperate convictions of his wickedness. 

It is not asserted that every one employed in publishing 
the mind of God to men, was faultless. — We allow Balaam, 
the old prophet of Bethel, and Caiaphas, to have been wicked 
men, Nuni, xxii. — xxiv. 1 Kings xiii. John xi. Such may en- 
joy transient inspirations, as well as the permanent light of 
nature. But the penmen of Scripture appear to have been 
holy men of God. Even their enemies never appear to have 
been able to charge them with any thing, but what was in- 
cluded in their faithful observance of the laws of their God. 
It is from the Scripture itself, and often from their own in- 
genuous and candid pens, that we have any account of their 
failings. Neither David nor Solomon were primary publishers 
of revelation. Nor can several failings disqualify men from 
being declarers of facts, or witnesses to the truth. — Paul's 
having had some contention with Barnabas about the impro- 
priety of taking Mark, who had formerly deserted them, along 
with them to visit the churches, will not so much as prove 
that he was in the wrong. His confessing that he was far less 
holy than he wished, and stating that he could be content 
with nothing less than perfect holiness, can never unfit him to 
be a preacher of, and a witness for Christ, Acts xv. Rom. vii. 

VII. The revelations contained in our Bibles are divinely 
inspired, proceeding from an infinitely wise, holy, just, 

good, true, and infallible God. Of old, God spake to men 

by voices, as at Sinai, &c. Exod. xix. — xxiv. Lev. i. — xxvii. 
Num. i. — xxxxvi. Deut. xxxi.; — by visions and dreams, as to 
the patriarchs and prophets, Gen. xii. xiii. — xxii. xxvi. xxviii. 
xxxi. xxxii. xxxv. xxxvii. xlvi. Job. iv. Isa. vi. Ezek. i. — xi. 
xl. — xlviii. Dan. vii. viii. ix. x. — xii. Amos vii. — ix. Zech. 



70 OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OP RELIGION. 

1 
i. — vi. But his mind comes to us by the inspiration of the 

Holy Ghost on the penmen of the Scriptures, which infalli- 
bly taught them what they knew not before, rendered the 
knowledge which they had of divine things absolutely certain, 
and directed them to proper words, to express their concep- 
tions of them. While he allowed them the use of their own 
language and natural abilities, he instructed and directed them 
in a manner which transcended them. Nor can we sufficiently 
understand what heart-composing, humbling, and sanctifying 
influences marked his inspirations. 

In the inspiration of the Scriptures, while the penmen them- 
selves concurred in exercising their own reason and judgment, 
Ps. xlv. 1. Mark xii. 36. Luke i. 3. 1 Pet. i. 11. the Holy 
Ghost, 1. Stirred them up to write, 2 Pet. i. 21. 2. Appoint- 
ed each his share, correspondent to his natural talents, and the 
necessities of the church, 2 Pet. i. 21. Mat. xxv. 15. 3. En- 
lightened their minds, and gave them a distinct view of the 
truths theyiWere to deliver, Jer. i. 11 — 16. xiii. 9 — 14. Ezek. 
iv. 4 — 8. Amos vii. 7, 8. viii. 2. Zech. i. 19, 21. iv. 11 — 14. 
v. 6. Dan. x. 1, 14. ix. 22 — 27. viii. 15—19. xii. 8, 11. 1 Pet. 
i. 10, 11. Eph. iii. 3, 4. John xvi. 13. But this was not given 
all at once to the twelve apostles, Mark iv. 34. Luke xxiv. 
17, 45. John xx. 22. Acts ii. 4. x. 9 — 15. xxviii. 34. ; but per- 
haps all at once to Paul, 2 Cor. xii. 4. Strengthened and re- 
freshed their memories to recollect whatever they had seen or 
heard, which he judged fit to be inserted in their writings, 
John xiv. 26. 5. Amidst a multitude of facts, he directed 
them what to write, and what not, as the edification of his 
church did or might require, John xx. 30, 31. xxi. 25. Rom. 
xv. 4. 1 Cor. x. 6 — 12. Rom. iv. 23, 24. 6. He stirred up and 
called forth in their minds such images and ideas as were trea- 
sured up in their memories, to other ends and purposes than 
they themselves would have ever done ; hence Amos draws his 
figures from the herd or flock, or field ; Paul makes use ot his 
learning, Acts xvii. 28. 1 Cor. xv. 33. Tit. i. 12. 7. He im- 
mediately suggested and imprinted on their minds all such 
things as were matter of pure revelation, Isa. xlvi. 9, 10. xii. 
22, 23. xlv. 21. and that whether of things past, as Gen. i. and 
it. or to come, or mysteries, 1 Tim. iii. 16. 8. He so superin- 
tended every particular writer, as to render him infallible in 
matter, words, and arrangement ; and superintended the whole 
writers in connection, as to render the whole Scripture, at a 
given period, sufficient for instruction and correction, to render 
the man of God'perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good 
work, 2 Tim. iii. 15 — 17. 

Some distinguish this inspiration of the Holy Ghost into 
suggestion, which infallibly directed them in the declaration 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 71 

of things secret, mysterious, and future; — and superinten- 
dencv, which secured them against gross blunders in represent- 
ing that which they knew before, leaving them to express 
thi :ir thoughts in the manner they judged best. But, if such 
superintendency be admitted as the whole of inspiration in les- 
ser matters, 1. Thousands of things, which from plain lan- 
guage of Scripture we apprehended to be true, may be nothing 
but blunders of less importance. 2. The most peremptory, 
clear, and certain testimonies of the Holy Ghost may be easily 
rejected, under pretence that they are lesser blunders of pen- 
men. 3. If the penmen had been left to the choice of their 
words, the meaning of Scripture must be altogether uncertain. 
The prophets and apostles might have had very proper ideas, 
and yet their words be very improper to express and convey 
them to us. Erroneous persons may assert, whenever they 
please, that such words of Scripture are not proper to express 
the inspired ideas, and substitute others, which they judge 
more meet, in their stead. — Indeed Paul hints, that not he, 
but the Lord, or he, not the Lord, directed in some cases rela- 
tive to marriage. But there he only means, that our Saviour 
had expresslxj taught such things, or not, in the days of his flesh, 
1 Cor. vii. 10, 12. Some expressions have an appearance of 
unfixed meaning, to teach us, never to be too peremptory in 
that which relates to mere circumstances of things, 1 John vi. 
19. 1 Pet. v. 12. 

Concerning this inspiration of Scripture, it must be remark- 
ed, 1. It doth not require, that every sentence which is in- 
serted in Scripture, should be attributed to God as its author. 
Many bad, or even some good expressions of devils or men are 
therein recorded, of which nothing but the infallible narration 
and the praise or dispraise are of divine inspiration. 2. The 
different parts of Scripture being so connected, and supporting 
each other, — Christ and his apostles approving the whole of 
the Old Testament, and the New being but a more clear de- 
claration of that which had been more darkly expressed by 
Moses and the prophets, — it is not necessary that all the marks 
of divine authority should equally appear in every verse, chap- 
ter, or book. — Some passages are but circumstantial introduc- 
tions to, or explications of other passages, which are more es- 
sential and important. — But that, taken in their proper con- 
nection, the books of the Old and New Testaments are of 
divine inspiration, is abundantly evident. 

1. The matter of them requires a divine inspiration. The 
history of the creation, and in part that of the flood, &c. which 
are recorded in them, were known only to God. Mysteries 
concerning the Trinity of persons in the godhead} — the cove- 
nant of grace, — the undertaking, incarnation, offices, and 



74 OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

corded, or prepared for ; — the same doctrines of our gracious 
redemption through Jesus Christ, exhibited or supposed to be 
true ; — the same rules and exemplifications of virtue or motives 
enforcing them ; — the same kind promises of mercy or just 
threatenings of misery to persons or societies, held forth, with- 
out a single contradiction. Where any such thing seems to 
appear, an accurate comparer of the discordant-like passages 
may perceive that they do not relate to the same person or 
things, in the same respect, and in the same circumstances of 
time, place, and manner ; and so there is no contradiction at 
all. Suppose that a transcriber or printer should have inad- 
vertently altered a letter, number, or point, that cannot be al- 
lowed to constitute a contradiction, or to invalidate the autho- 
rity of the Bible or of any other book. 

5. The unblemished character of the penmen further de- 
monstrates the divine original and authority of the Scriptures. 
Thev every where mark the utmost candour and disinterested- 
ness, — candidly publishing their own and their friends' infirmi- 
ties and guilt. None of them ever acquired any thing in this 
world by their work, but trouble and vexation. According to 
their own declared principles, deceit and imposture could pro- 
cure them nothing in the next, but everlasting destruction The 
matter and manner of their work infinitely transcended their 
abilities. Beside their predictions, how could men of the least 
and especially men of no education, form such an exalted sys- 
tem of sense, piety, and virtue ! How could wicked men, 
though inspired by Satan, have devised, published, and propa- 
gated, as well as fervently exemplified such a scheme of mvs- 
tery, majesty, and holiness? Or, how could their account of 
the incarnation, obedience, bufferings, and death, of the Son of 
God, have been drawn up with such simplicity and undoubted 
candour, if it had not been taken from real facts. 

6. God's marvellous preservation of the Scriptures of the 
Old and New Testament, from being lost or corrupted, while, 
perhaps millions of writings;, once of considerable fame in the 
world, and*which no man hated or sought to extirpate, are lost 
and forgotten, proves them to have been inspired by his Spirit. 
Notwithstanding they were in part written before any other 
books, and Satan with his innumerable instruments have hated, 
and, with all their united fraud and force laboured to destroy or 
corrupt them, God, in his providence, still preserved them in 
their purity. By appointing the original tables of his moral 
law, and an original copy of the other laws of Moses to be kept i 
in the Holy of Holies,— by appointing every Hebrew king to : 
write a copy of these laws for himself, — by appointing the 
publick and private reading of them and teaching them to their 
children, — and making the opponent parties that enjoyed them, 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 75 

mutual checks upon each other, &c. he, in his infinite wisdom 
and goodness, secured their safe preservation. By tremendous 
judgments he restrained Antiochus Epiphanes, the Syro-Gre- 
cian monarch, Dioclesian the Roman emperour and others, who 
attempted to destroy all the copies of them, in order to extir- 
pate the Jewish or Christian religion. And in what amazing 
forms, hath he upheld and comforted such as risked or parted 
with their lives, rather than deny the dictates of Scripture, or 
in the least contribute to their dishonour. 

7. Multitudes of miracles, which could only be effected 
by the infinite power of God, have been wrought for confirma- 
tion of the doctrines and facts recorded in Scripture, and for 
attestation of the divine commission of the primary publishers 
of it. — God's infinite wisdom and goodness required him, espe- 
cially when, as in the davs of Moses and the apostles, he was 
introducing new forms of worship, to mark the important de- 
clarations of his will with distinguishing tokens, which might 
awaken men to consider them. Nothing appears more proper 
for promoting this end, than a series of uncontrolled miracles 
which supported nothing but what was consistent with reason. 
Neither reason nor experience admits, that God's infinite wisdom 
and goodness will permit one, much less thousands of uncon- 
trolled miracles to be wrought for the confirmation of falsehood, 
In the miracles which confirm the Scripture, we find every pro- 
batory circumstance. They were almost innumerable, and all 
of them calculated to answer some great end. Corresponding 
to the nature of the broken law and its curses, many of those 
wrought by Moses and Elias, were tremendous and wrathful, 
Exod. vii. — xiv. Num. xvi. 1 Kings xvii. xviii. 2 Kings i. ii. 
Congenial to the spirit of the Gospel, which Jesus Christ and 
his apostles published, the miracles which they performed were 
generally of a benevolent nature and tendency, Matth. iv. viii. 
— xxi. Mark i. — xi. Luke iv. — xix. John ii.— xxi t Acts iii. — xx. 
xxviii. Most of these miracles were wrought in so publick a 
manner, that both friends and enemies had the fullest opportu- 
nity of thoroughly examining them, and when the concurrent 
circumstances of providence loudly called them. Most of them, 
as the safe passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea and 
Jordan, — -their living forty years on manna from heaven and wa- 
ter from the flinty rocks, — the standing still, or retrograde motion 
of the sun, — the feeding of several thousands on a few loaves 
and fishes, — the raising of the dead or buried, and the like, were 
of such a nature, that common sense cannot allow the witnesses 
to have been mistaken concerning them ; or that any power less 
than infinite, could have performed them. Even die inveterate 
enemies of the Gospel, Jews or Heathens, in part attest, that 
these miracles were really wrought. And it is plain, that they 



T6 QF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 






were wrought in confirmation of a religion the most pure an£ 
benevolent, and the most of them by persons of distinguished 
piety and virtue. 

In vain it is pretended, that the commonexperience of mankind 
being against the existence of miracles, ought to be laid in 
balance with the positive proofs in favour of them ; and that 
it ought to be considered ,whether it be not more probable, that 
all the witnesses of them have been deceived, than that those 
miracles have been really wrought : for, 1 . Nothing can be a 
miracle at all, which is not contrary to the common experience 
of mankind. 2. Negative proof is of very little force in oppo- 
sition to that which is positive, as it can merely bear, that the 
deponents did not observe that which others affirm they did. 
If two creditable persons depone, that they heard me utter such 
expressions, or saw me commit such crimes, the testimony of 
ten thousand millions, deponing that they did not observe me 
say or do such things, will not overbalance it. If negative evi- 
dence be not directly opposite to that which is positive, with 
respect to time and place, it is of no force at all. Millions of 
mankind could truly depone, that they never saw frozen water, 
— never observed the load-stone vary its influence under exces- 
sive cold, — never saw an animal when cut into an hundred 
pieces propogate into as many animals of that kind, — never saw 
a white man, or a negro, &c. But will it therefore follow that 
these things never existed, and were never reallv seen by others ? 
Because thousands of millions, who did not live in the age or 
place of miracles, never saw them, will it follow, that those who 
lived in that age and place, when and where they are said to have 
happened, never saw or felt them ? 3. If God be the infinitely 
powerful Maker and Manager of all things, he can easily work 
miracles by controlling the ordinary operation of second causes, 
which himself hath established. And if there be an occasion 
and end demanding the interposal of his infinite power, reason 
teacheth that his wisdom and goodness will determine him to 
exert it, 4. Unless it be proved, that God is incapable to mark 
out his own interposals as divine, and that the human senses are, 
in every case, altogether unfit to be trusted, and so all human 
fellowship undermined, these senses must be allowed sufficient 
judges as to the realities of the miracles recorded in Scripture. 
It is highly absurd, to compare these miracles with those which 
have been ascribed to Esculapius, Vespasian, Adrian, Apollo- 
nius, or Abbe Paris the Jansenist. The miracles ascribed to the 
first three are only reported by heathens, on distant hear-says, 
who might be prompted by worldly interest to flatter them. The 
record of those ascribed to Apollonius was not formed till about, 
a hundred years after his death, — from secret memoirs, which 
the recorder confesses to have been written in a bombast fetyl?, 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 77 

and stuffed with romances, — and was formed in order to con- 
front the evangelical history of Jesus Christ, and to please a 
romantic lady ; and not one of Apollonius' few disciples pre- 
tended to have received from him a power of working miracles. 
The wonderful cures ascribed to Abbe Paris, or his tomb, ob- 
tained only among his admirers, and respected diseases, the 
crisis of which occurring in the order of natural causes, con- 
nected with a strong imagination of the Abbe's power and the 
\ise of natural remedies, real cures might be effected in some ; — 
while many others, by the examination oi the magistrates, were 
detected to have been mere impostures. 

It is no less absurd to assert, that miracles cannot confirm a 
doctrine which cannot be demonstrated ; for, 1. If nothing but 
what can be formally demonstrated, must be regarded, how 
little of the Law of Nature will be known, or ought to be obev- 
ed ? Or, why must formal demonstration be required to ascer- 
tain the doctrines of Ilevelation, any more than to ascertain the 
Laics of wYutnre P 2. If all the affairs of common life among 
men be ascertained without formal demonstration, why may 
not God ascertain his revelations without it, and in a man- 
ner much more suited to their capacities and experience. 
3. A demonstration of the reasonableness of any thing cannot 
sufficiently prove its divine original or appointment. None can 
prove it unreasonable to observe two days in every week in the 
public service of God. Yet it will not follow, that he requires 
any such thing. Something higher than demonstration, must 
therefore mark the divine authority of a revelation. 4. Though 
some men had real revelations from God, and were certain of 
it, these could be of no use to mankind in general, unless they 
had marks of their divine original, which others might per- 
ceive. 5. As revelation supposeth men rational creatures, as 
well as endowed with outward senses, miraculous appearances 
are not to be taken as a sole proof of the divine authority- of 
missions or doctrines, but as co-ordinate with the suitableness 
of these things to the perfections of God and the natural rules 
of virtue ; — which being more striking to weak minds are more 
effectual to bear down their prejudices, to procure their at- 
tention, and thus lead, and add to the force of the internal 
evidence which is in the doctrines themselves. 6. Where the 
doctrines thus correspond with the perfections of God, and our 
connections with him, we are in no danger of being imposed 
on by miraculous appearances, through our ignorance of the 
physical causes of nature, or our inability to examine the ex- 
tent of created powers. No evil spirits would work wonders 
for establishing a scheme worthy of God or beneficial to men, 
whom they so heartily hate. No such pious and virtuous men, 
as the prophets and apostles, would attempt to wQrk miracles, 



78 OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

in confederacy with Satan, or deal in deceitful arts. No good 
spirit would work any miracles to confirm an imposture. Nor 
would an infinitely wise, powerful, and good God, permit his 
rational creatures to be seduced into errours by a multitude of 
uncontrolled miracles. 7. Most of the miracles recorded in 
Scripture could not possibly have been counterfeited. 

8. The scheme of reforming mankind by the revelation of 
Scripture, and its evident success, are a continued miraculous 
proof of its divine original. — Nothing but certain evidence of his 
divine commission could have made Moses risk his character, 
that on the 6th day of the week, his whole nation in the wil- 
derness should always have manna sufficient for two days, 
rained from heaven upon them ; and that in Canaan their 
fields should always produce double crops on the 6th year, — 
and on that supposition make a standing law, that they should 
never attempt to gather manna on the 7th day, or cultivate 
their fields in the 7th year. Nothing but the most infallible 
assurance that God would then protect them from their invete- 
rate enemies on every side, would have made him require, that 
all their males, capable of travel, should thrice everv year 
leave their homes, and attend sacred festivals in the midst of 
their country. Nothing but the clearest warrant from God 
could have made him hope, that in the family of Aaron, there 
would always be a sufficient number of males to execute the 
office of priesthood for all Israel, free of all the exclusive ble- 
mishes, which he states ; — or could have made him hope, that 
their small country would supply his numerous nation with suf- 
ficient provisions, exclusive of all the prohibited flesh, and of all 
the oblations required for the Lord. Nothing but certain evi- 
dence of a divine institution, attended with a divine influence, 
could have made the Israelites submit to so many burden- 
some ceremonies, Exod. xvi. Lev. xxv. Deut. xv. Exod. xxiii. 
xxxiv. Lev. xxi. — xxiii. xi. i. — vi. Num. xviii. xxviii. xxix. 

The scheme of Christianity and its success are still more 
amazing, and could proceed from - nothing less than a divine 
warrant and influence. Without these, how could ever a few 
weak or illiterate men, altogether unaided by worldly influence, 
form a scheme of reforming the whole world, from principles 
and practices deeply rooted in their inclinations, and firmly 
established by the extensive customs and long-confirmed laws 
of all nations, and that not by force or fraud, but by mere de- 
clarations of what they thought true ; or, of what they knew 

to be false, if they were impostors? How could crafty vil- 

lianss or even the weakest fools, choose for their hero, one who 
had made his ignominious sufferings his distinguishing character- 
istic, — one, whohadbeen always contemned, and had lately been 
crucified between two thieves, as a noted and base malefactor, 



Oh' THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. T9 

by the common consent and outcry of his countrymen, — one, 
who, it he was not God in our nature, had abused his disciples' 
confidence, and drawn them into a train of temporal and eter- 
nal miseries, — one, who had never encouraged them to expect 
am thing in this world, in following him, but crosses, hatred, 
imprisonment, tortures, and death, — nor for any thing in the 
next, but everlasting destruction, if they indulged themselves 
in any fraudulent promoting of his cause ? — How possibly could 
a few villanous projectors of a general reformation begin their 
work, in the very place where, and a few weeks after, even 
amidst the.se very multitudes, by whom their Hero had been 
ignominiously crucified, and in the face of dangers and death, 
publickly proclaim him to be the Son of God, the true Messiah, 
who had risen from the dead and ascended to heaven, and sat 
down at the right hand of God ? — How could they amidst the 
deepest poverty, cruellest hatred, most calumnious reproach, 
and most inhuman persecution of enemies unnumbered, in every 
place carry on their design with unwearied zeal, astonishing 
toil, and unceasing, cheerfulness, never appearing to covet any 
worldly wealth or honour ? — How could they form a system of 
doctrines and laws, infinitely superiour in sense, dignity, and 
sanctifying virtue, to all the productions of the most renowned 
heathen philosophers ? — How astonishing, that those few, most 
of them illiterate preachers, without the least aid or encourage- 
ment from any earthly power, should so triumph over the craft, 
the rage, and the power of enraged Jews ; — over all the pride, 
policy, and power of the Roman empire, when in its full 
strength and sagacity ; over the pride of learning, and the ob- 
stinacy of ignorance, hatred, prejudice, and lust ; over the 
hardened inclinations, deep-rooted customs, and long fixed laws 
of both Jews and heathens ; — and that, notwithstanding every 
form of danger, loss, and opposition, the gospel shoidd, within 
a few years after Christ's death, be preached in almost everv 
corner of the Roman empire, and countries around it ; — and 
that multitudes, at the hazard of every thing dear to them, 
should readily believe it, steadfastlyjadhere to it, and cheerfully 
practise it ? How astonishing that, for more than 1700 years 
past, notwithstanding unnumbered persecutions, and all the 
profane naughtiness of many professors, the base indifference 
or inconceivable villanies of many clerical instructors, this 
scheme hath been more or less successful in reforming the 
hearts and lives of multitudes, and civilizing the manners, in 
almost every nation of importance, under heaven ? 

9. Nothing more clearly demonstrates the divine inspiration 
and authority of the Scriptures than the exact ftdjilment of the 
typical and verbal predictions, which they exhibited, in the 
most circumstantiated manner, hundreds or thousands of years, 



80 OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OP RELIGION. 

before that fulfilment, or any appearance of it, took place; 
Predictions, especially as above circumstantiated, necessarily 
require a looking with certainty, through an infinity of possible 
events, and seeing and determining which shall certainly hap- 
pen, and which shall not. Such foresight and determination 
are only competent to God, the Omniscient and Almighty gover- 
nour of the world. To mark him as their author the Scriptures 
are crowded with predictions : their exact fulfilment is recorded 
in the inspired and other histories, which have been since writ- 
ten. Almost every historical passage in our Bible is a record of 
something antecedently foretold. The New Testament is little 
more than a representation of the fulfilment of the types and 
prophecies of the Old, concerning Jesus Christ, and his gos-< 
pel-church. Nay, the histories of churches and nations from 
the beginning to the end of the world do, or -will, to judici- 
ous readers, represent little more than the fulfilment of Scrip- 
ture predictions concerning the families of Adam and Noah, 
Canaanites, Amalekites, Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites, 
Philistines, Egyptians, Ethiopians, Syrians, Assyrians, Chal- 
deans, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Saracens, Tartars, Goths, 
Hunns, and Turks, and especially concerning the Jews, Jesus 

Christ, the New Testament church, and Antichrist. This 

proof, drawn from the fulfilment of predictions, still continues, 
and increases in clearness and force, as it takes place and is 
observed. — The dispersion and misery of the Jewish nation, 
so often repeated, and long continued ; — the progress, continu- 
ance, and success of the Gospel among the Gentiles ; — the long 
continued and extensive domination of popery, and partial re- 
volt from it at the Reformation ; — the past and present con- 
dition of the Roman and Turkish empires ; — the present state 
of Assyria, Chaldea, Arabia, Phenicia, Canaan, Egypt, &c. 
in exact correspondence with those predictions, — are standing 
testimonies to the divine inspiration of our Bible, no less con- 
clusive and striking, than if we had miracles wrought before 

us, every day. And it is remarkable, that not only was our 

Saviour's divine character displayed in his incomparable beha- 
viour, miracles, instructions, and institutions, but also in the 
striking fulfilment of his predictions relative to the miseries of 
his Jewish contemners, and the spread of his Gospel-church ; — 
and that Josephus their historian was almost miraculously pre- 
served to write an history of that fulfilment. 

No prediction emitted by any true prophet mentioned in 
Scripture ever failed of accomplishment. — But if a condition be 
expressed or understood in the annunciation, it is rather a warn- 
ing than a prediction, and so no fulfilment falls due, unless the 

condition be implemented. In that very day, nay moment, 

in which Adam ate the forbidden fruit, he became legally and 



T>F THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 81 

spiritually dead ; his temporal and eternal death commenced, 
as far as the making of the covenant with his posterity in him 

permitted, Gen. ii. 17. God no more than warned David, 

that if he continued there till Saul should come up, the men 
of Keilah would deliver him up, 1 Sam. xxiii. 12. — Elishn's 
declaration concerning Benhadad might be translated, Thou 
shalt certainly live. And, according to our English version, it 
means no more, than that his disease was not mortal. Now it is 
certain that he did not die of his disease, but by Hazael's stifling 
of him, 2 Kings viii. 10. — The Ninevites were no more than 
threatened with ruin within forty days if they did not repent, 
Jonah iii. — Nay, unless threatenings be universal or confirmed 
by an oath, they generally imply an exception in case of repent- 
ance. Agreeable to Huldah's prediction, Josiah died in peace 
with God and his conscience, and before the war which ruined 
his nation broke out, 2 Kings xxii. 20. — Jehoiakim was buried 
like an as8, though it be not recorded in Scripture, Jer. xxii. 18, 
19, andxxxvi. 30. — Zedekiah's eyes being put out at Riblah, 
he went to Babylon without seeing it, where he died, and was 
honourably buried by his friends, though we have not the his- 
tory of his funeral, Jer. xxxiv. 4, 5. — The lust days denote 
future time in general, or that which followed our Saviour's 
ascension ; or, the last years of the Jewish constitution, Gen. 
xlix. 1. 2. Tim. iii. 1. 1 John ii. 18. — It was the coming of 
Christ to execute judgment on the Jewish nation, not his com- 
ing to judge the world, which these in the apostolick age were 
warranted to expect in their own time, Mat. xxiv. with 2 Thess, 
ii. 2.— Paul considered himself as a member of that mystical 
body of Christ, whose fellow -members will be alive at Christ's 
second coming, 1 Cor. xv. 51, 52. 1 Thess. iv. 15, 17. 

10. Though the above or like arguments be sufficient to si- 
lence gainsavers, and produce a rational conviction, that the 
Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are indeed the word 
of God, — yet it is only the Holy Ghost's effectual application 
©f them to our mind, conscience, and heart, in their self-eviden- 
cing life, light, and power, which can produce a cordial and 
saving persuasion of \u — The word of God thus applied, brings 
along with, and in itself, such light, such authority, and such, 
convincing, quickening, sanctifying, and comforting power, thae 
there is no possibility of shutting our eyes or hardening our 
heart against it, of continuing blind or unconcerned about it ; 
but all the faculties of our souls are necessarily affected with it, 
as impressed with evidences of its divinity, attended by almighty 
influence, 1 Thess. i. 5. and ii. 13. John vi. 63. Jer. xxiii. 29. 
And hence, without seeing any miracles, or other external evi- 
dence of its divine authority, many of the primary hearers of re- 
velation were obliged to believe it on a mere Thus suith tht 

O* 



82 OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

Lord, Isa. i. Mai. iv. Jer. xxiii. 28, 29, 31. 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25. 
Heb. iv. 11, 12. 1 Thess. ii. 13. John vii. 17. and x. 3,4. Acts 
xiii. 48, 51. This is the true, the formal ground and reason 
of our faith. And hence, while many of great parts and learn- 
ing, who understand, and can urge on others the merely rational 
proofs of the divine inspiration and authority of the Scriptures, 
never cordially believe them, to the saving of their soul ; others, 
who are of weak capacities, having them applied by the Holy 
Ghost to their heart, believe them so firmly, as to trust their 
eternal salvation on a single sentence of them; and to be ready, 
patiently and cheerfully, to undergo all manner of sufferings, ra- 
ther than deny the smallest truth contained in them. The sun's 
effectual probation of his own existence by his own light and 
warmth seen and felt by us, may shadow forth this present 
proof of the divine authority of the Scripture. But it can only 
be understood by our experiencing it. 

Such objections of Infidels against the divine original and au- 
thority of the Scriptures as have not been formerly anticipated, 
or removed, must now be considered. 

Objec. I. " The revelations contained in the Old and New 
w Testament, which are known to so few, cannot be from God, 
" who is good to all men." Answ. 1. God's goodness to all 
men doth not bind him to promote all men to equal happiness, 
notwithstanding their most hateful rejection and abuse of his 
benefits. It doth not bind him to keep prodigal rakes as rich, 
healthy and honourable, as if they had been frugal and virtuous. 
— Nay, in fact, God doth not render every man equally rich, 
honourable, healthy in body and mind, benevolent, contented, 
or even equally acquainted with the Laws of Nature. 2. If 
men, through sloth or vitious inclinations, have forgotten, con- 
temned, corrupted, or banished, those revelations which God 
made to all alive in the days of Adam and Noah, — is he bound 
to preserve them among them clear, pure, and entire, and to add 
to them, whether they will or not ? Is a Lawgiver tyrannical, 
if he publish not his statutes in every man's chamber ? — or, if 
he do not repeat his publication of them at every year's end, 
when his subjects have, through their sloth and wickedness, for- 
gotten them, — and meanwhile punish none for disobedience to 
them, but in proportion to the means of information concerning 
them which they enjoyed ? 3. Revelation might indeed have 
prevented that gross ignorance and barbarity which prevail 
among many nations : But it is not their want of it, any more 
than their having the Law of Nature in their breasts, but 
their own inward corruption, and the bad education and exam- 
ple they had, which are the cause of that ignorance and barba- 
rity : — even as, though proper medicines might often prevent 



OK THE REVEALED STANDARD OP ItEUGION. 

diseases and premature death, yet it is not the want of them, 
but the inbred corruption of the body or external violence, 
which is the cause of such diseases and death. 4. Certainly God 
gives a more illustrious display of his infinite goodness, in rc- 
\ i aling his will for the salvation of some, nay multitudes of men, 
than he could do, in suffering them all to perish for ever in their 
ignorance. Revelation allows ever}- man to retain all the pri- 
vileges which he hath by the Light of nature ; adds not a few 
to many who are not saved in Christ ; vouchsafes multitudes 
of blessings to them that are saved ; — and thus manifests 
the goodness of God much more clearly than the Light of 

nature. Would our benevolent Infidels rather have all man. 

kind eternally unhappy, than a part ? 

Objec. II. ** Jesus of Nazareth having observed the then 
*' general rumour and expectation of an appearance of the Son 
" of God, in human nature, as a promised Messiah, laid hold of 
*' the opportunity, and pretended to be Him." Ans. He in- 
deed appeared in the proper season, when men were looking for 
the Messiah, and ready to examine his characteristicks. But, in 
these circumstances, his appearance in so debased and spiritual 
a form, so contrary to the carnal wishes and expectations of his 
countrymen, though perfectly conformable to the ancient pre- 
dictions, strongly marked his candour and his being the true 
Messiah. And it is remarkable, that every other claimant of 
that character hath, to his utmost, conformed his appearances 
and pretences, to the prevalent hopes and carnal inclinations of 
the Jewish nation. 

Objec. III. " If Jesus Christ had been the Saviour of man- 
" kind, the universal and equal goodness of God could not have 
a admitted of the delay of his coming in the flesh, till four 
" thousand years after the creation." Ans. 1 . God might have* 
been infinitely good, though never a man had been formed or a 
Saviour heard of. And it hath been repeatedly demonstrated, 
that God doth not manifest equal kindness to all men. 2. If 
our Saviour had appeared in the flesh, immediately after the 
Fall of man, or much sooner than he did, — the wisdom and 
goodness of God had been far less manifested therein. The 
absolute need of him, and of the abounding of grace through 
him, had been far less evident. — It would not have been clearly 
manifested, that neither overwhelming floods, — destructive 
showers of fire and brimstone, — tenfold plagues, — captivity, — 
desolation, — nor philosophers, — nor prophets, endowed with 
miraculous powers, — nor repeated and awful appearances of 
God himself, — could reform the world,but after all it had rather 

become more and more wicked. Moreover, men would not 

have been sufficiently warned of his coming, or prepared to ex- 
am-ne his credentials* Multitudes could oot h*ve been found 



84 OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

to witness his instructions, miracles, death, and resurrection, or 
to be his opponents and murderers. His gospel could not have 
had opportunity of clearly manifesting its divine efficacy in 
triumphing over so much opposition. Millions of incorrigible 
Jewish enemies could not have been found, or multitudes of 
nations to scatter them among, as publick and permanent docu- 
ments and witnesses of his Messiahship, by their own inex- 
pressible miseries for rejecting him. 

Objec. IV. " Jesus Christ made choice not of learned 
f and wise men, but of weak and simple wretches, whom he 
u could easily deceive, for his apostles and agents. Such only, 
" and they in small numbers, were the witnesses of his resur-j 
*' rection ; whereas a single walk through the streets of Jeru- 
" salem, or appearance before the Sanhedrim, would haye put 
" the matter beyond doubt, and procured the attestation of men 
" of high rank and credit." A'nsw. 1. The instance of Paul, 
the most active, zealous, and successful among his apostles, 
proves, that they were not all simple and ignorant. But if they 
were so, they were the more unfit to promote an imposture ; 
they could not, like Zoroaster, Apollonius, and other cheats, 
insinuate themselves into the affections of men, chiefly the great 
and rich ; they were the readier to be every where treated with 
contempt and persecution, instead of regard and belief, to dis- 
cover an imposture trusted to them ; and without divine assist- 
ance, the less capable to form such an incomparably exalted 
scheme of doctrines and morals, or make it so remarkably triumph 
over all opposition from hell and earth. 2. It was not proper 
that he should appear to the Jewish rulers, or in publick streets, 
after his resurrection, and thus again expose himself to their 
cruelty. After sufficient proofs of his Messiahship, in his mi- 
racles, doctrines, and conduct, they had condemned and cruci- 
fied him. They had exhausted their wits and emptied their 
purses, to stifle the proofs of his resurrection, which the soldiers 
that watched his sepulchre had given them. Such obstinate 
criminals had no claim to be the distinguished favourites of 
heaven, or honoured publishers of the gossel. — They were soon 
to have the irrefragable testimony of the Holy Ghost, in his 
•miraculous and heart-conquering influences, which were a 
thousand times more convincing than a transient view of a body 
restored to life. — In fine, if any worldly influence had appear- 
ed in the rise and primary propagation of the report of his re- 
surrection, the almighty power and wisdom of God had been 
less clearly manifested in its spread and success. 

Objec. V. " Few of the Jews, the only people that urder- 
" stood the ancient types and predictions relative to the Mes- 
" siah, believed in Jesus of Nazareth, but held him for an im- 
{* postor.'-' Answ. This very thing verified these ancient types 



OP THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 85 

«nd predictions, and marked him out as the true Messiah, It was 
expressly foretold, that he should be despised, rejected, and cru- 
cified by his countrymen. Nor, could an opposite conduct have 
answered his end in coming into the world to be a sacrifice for 
sin. Nor, without such wickedness, could they and their seed 
have been qualified to be the wretched witnesses of his Mes- 
siahship, and of the truth of his gospel among all nations. 
And their often repeated readiness to receive every pretended 
Messiah, makes their rejection of him the more striking. 

Objec, VI. " The facts of Revelation depend wholly on 
"faith, which is the lowest kind of evidence." Answ. 1. It is 
nevertheless the most common evidence, and the best adapted 
to every capacity, weak or strong. It is not by intuition, or by 
rational demonstration, but by faith in the testimony of others, 
that all our dealings with men are managed, nations governed, 
pleas decided, knowledge of the world procured, and trade with 
persons and places, which we never saw, carried on. 2. The 
credibility of Scripture, as hath been repeatedly hinted, depends 
upon the strongest attestations of friends and enemies, from age 
to age, nay, upon the self-evidencing testimony of an infallible 
God, which is more clear and strong than demonstration itself. 

Objec. VII. " The divisions which prevail among Chris- 
" tians, concerning the number of their inspired books and 
" their meaning, with the doctrines and rules therein contained, 
" manifest that Revelation cannot be from God, who hath 
*' the hearts of all men in his hand." Answ. 1. For about; 
1600 years past, few Christians have had either debates or doubts 
concerning any book really inspired. Nor have many that de- 
serve the name of Christians, ever contended for the divine 
authority of the apocryphal books. 2. The divisions among 
Christians are but a counterpart of those which take place 
among the extollers of the light of nature, — are a fulfilment of 
these Scriptures, and are by the providence of God, made useful 
in preserving them in their original perfection and purity, and 
are a remarkable evidence of their truth, as not one of the con- 
tending parties have prevailed in discovering a cheat in them. 

Objec. VIII. u Revelation, particularly that which relates 
" to the Christian religion, hath not reformed the world. 
u Many of its most noted professors habitually contemn its 
" plain and fundamental rules, — in not xvashing one another's 
** feet, — in taking usury for the money which they lend, — in 
" eating things strangled in blood, in swearing assertory 
" or promissory oaths. Their Own candid authors represent 
" most of their clergy as consummate villains, and many of 
" their people as worse than heathens." Answ. 1. It is too 
true, that many professors of revealed religion, of whom 
our infidel doctors are ordinarily a part, habitually disregard 



88 OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

The Old Testament doth not now bind men to an obser- 
vance of typical ceremonies, or laws strictly judicial. But in sd 
far as it instructs them in revealed truths, or inculcates moral 
duties, it continues its whole binding force, till the end of time. 

1. Christ came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to" 
fulfil them, Matth. v. 17, 19. 2. The Scriptures of the Old 
Testament are recommended as a rule in the New, Luke xvi. 
29, 31. John v. 39. Rom. xv. 4. 2 Tim. iii. 15 — 17. 2 Pet. i. 
19. Acts xvii. 11., and xxvi. 22. Matth. xxii. 29. 3. The writ- 
ings of the prophets, as well as of the apostles, are the foundation 
of the New Testament church, Eph. ii. 19, 20. 4. Our know- 
ledge and faith of the creation, fall of man, and of Christ being 
the promised Messiah, he. much depends on the books of the 
Old Testament, Luke xvi. 16. and xxiv. 27, 44. John i. 45. 
Acts x. 43. xiii. 47. xxvi. 22. xxviii. 23. Rom. x. 4. and iii. 21.. 
2 Cor. iii. 3, 7. Eph. ii. 19, 20. 

While no more but a small portion of divine truth, easy to 
be remembered, was revealed ; — while the principal teachers of 
it lived many hundred years, in which they had opportunity to 
communicate it to multitudes ; — and while delusions were less 
known in the world, — God exhibited his will only in words. — 
But, when his revelations became so extensive, that men's me- 
mories could not easily retain them all; — when the teachers' 
lives were exceedingly shortened; — when his peculiar people had 
exceedingly multiplied, — when he intended to render the mani- 
festations of his mind in dreams and visions less frequent, — it 
became necessary, for the better preservation and propagation 
of his revelations, that they should be committed to writing.— ^ 
The penmen did not write them of their own accord, but as 
expressly or implicitly commanded by God, Exod. xvii. 14. 
and xxxiv. 27. Deut. xxxi. 19. Isa. viii. l.xxx. 8. Jer. xxx. 

2. xxxvi. 2. Ezek. xliii. 11. Dan. xii. 4. Hab. ii. 2. Rev. ii 
11 — 19* xiv. 13. iii iii. Isa. vi. 9. Mat. xxviii. 19.— Neverthe- 
less, a divine commission to teach, hound none to write, unless 
the Holy Ghost directed and determined them to it. And hence 
several prophets and apostles never wrote any part of Scripture. 

The church is, 1. The keeper and guardian of the oracles of 
God, Rom. iii. 2. 2. The public director to, and exhibiter of 
what is trulvhis word, Isa. xxx. 21. 1 Tim. iii. 15. 3. The 
protector of it against the assaults of adversaries, 1 Tim. iii. 
15. But perhaps the pillar and ground of truth there men- 
tioned, may mean not the church, but the great mystery of 
godliness represented in ver. 16. 4. The preacher and publisher 
of the contents of Scripture, 2 Cor. v. 18, 19, 20. Rom. x. 15, 
17. 5. The explainer of the meaning of Scripture, Acts xiii. 

15 — 41, 47. Neh. viii. 8. But the Scriptures do not derive 

their authority from the church, but from God alone. 1. The 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF REUGION. 89 

church hath all her authority from the Scriptures being founded 
on them, and so can give no authority to them more than to 
God himself, Eph. ii. 20. John v. 39. Acts xvii. 11. 2. If we 
believe the Scripture on the ground of church-authority, we 
subordinate the authority of God to that of the church, con- 
trary to Acts iv. 19. and v. 29. John xx. 29, 31. Isa. viii. 20. 
2 Chron. xx. 20. 3. If we admit the authority of the church, 
as the foundation of the truths revealed in Scripture, our faith 
is but human, standing in the wisdom and veracity of men, not 
in the power of God, contrary to 1 Cor. ii. 5. 2 Cor. iv. 2. and 
i. 24. 1 Thess. i. 5. andu. 13. 4. Even Christ and his aposdes 
submitted their authority to be tried by the Scriptures, John 
v. 39. Gal. i. 8, 9. 2 Pet. i. 16 — 19. Acts xvii. 11. and xxvi. 
22. 5. From what church doth the Scripture derive its au- 
thority ? Is it from the ancient or the modern church ? — from 
the collective or the representative church ? — from the church 
universal or particular ? — from the pope, or a council ? — 
Papists do not know. 

The Scriptures are plain and perspicuous. Everything 
necessary to be known, believed, or practised, in order to our 
salvation, is so clearly and plainly revealed in some passages of 
them, that every serious inquirer of moderate capacity, may, 
by diligent consideration, understand it. 1. God himself ex- 
pressly declares the Scriptures to be plain, Deut. xxx. 11 — 14. 
2 Cor. iv. 2 — 4. Rom. xvi. 26. 2. They are represented as 
a lamp and a light, for the instruction of the simple, Psalm 
xix. 7, 8. and cxix. 105, 130. Prov. vi. 23. and i. 4. 2 Pet. i. 
19. 3. All adult persons, however weak, are commanded to 
read and meditate on them, that they may receive instruction, 
Johnv. 39. Luke xvi. 29, 31. Acts xvii. 11. Deut. vi. 6 — 9. 
Isa. viii. 20. and xxxiv. 16. Rev. i. 3. Psalm i. 2. and cxix. 
97 — 100. Mat. xxii. 29. 4. The many repetitions, explications, 
with the multitude of figures and emblems drawn from com- 
mon things, manifest, that God really intended to speak intelli- 
gibly to men : nor could he fail in his design.— ——But, as the 
mysteries contained in the Scripture cannot be comprehended 
by our finite and weak minds ; and there are hard passages, 
chiefly in history and prophecies, which do not so nearly con- 
cern our salvation, 2 Pet. Hi. 16. Rev. v. 1,3. the diligent use 
of means is necessary in order to understand it. And, eyen 
the plainest passages of it cannot be spiritually and savingly 
understood, without the special illumination of the Holy 
Ghost. 1. Spiritual blindness reigns or prevails in men's 
minds, while they remain on earth, 1 Cor. ii. 14. 2 Cor. iii. 5, 
14. iv. 4. Eph. v. 8. Rev. iii. 17, 18. Psal. cxix. 18. and cxxxix. 
6. lxxiii. 22. Prov. xxx. 2, 3. 2. In the declarations and pro- 
mises of God, and in the prayers of his saints, this special il- 



9» OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OP RELIGION. 

lamination is represented as necessary to our savingly under- 
standing the mind of God, Psalm xxv. 8, 9. 14. and cxix. 18, 
27, 33, 34. Isa. xlviii. 17. and liv. 13. and lix. 21. and xxix. 
18, 24. and 1. 4. Luke xxiv. 45. John vi. 44, 45. 1 Cor ii. 10, 
12. 2 Cor. iv. 6. Eph. i. 17, 18. and iii. 14 — 19. 1 John ii. 20, 
27. John xvi. 7 — 14. and xiv. 26. Prov. i. 23. 

Not merely the express words of Scripture, but also the 
consequences justly deducible from them, are included in the 
regulating standard of our faith and practice. 1. All Scripture 
is profitable for doctrine, — for instruction, correction, and com- 
fort ; all which ends cannot be obtained but by deduction of 
consequences, 2 Tim. ii. 16, 17. Rom. xv. 4. John xx. 31. 
2. God's wisdom requires, that he should speak to his rational 
creatures in a manner answerable to their reasoning faculties ; 
and that he should intend whatever meaning may be reasonably 
deduced from his words, Prov. viii. 4. with 1 Cor. x. 15. and 
ii. 15. 3. The Scriptures must be searched, in order to find their 
meaning, Isa. xxxiv. 16. John v. 39. Acts xvii. 11. Prov. ii. 2 — 
4. Psalm i. 2. and cxix. 97. 4. Christ and his apostles often 
reasoned from Scripture-consequences, Mat. xxii. Rom. iii. ix. 
x. xi. Gal. iii. iv. Heb. i. — xiii. In our deduction of Scrip- 
ture-consequences, cur reason is the instrument, by which we 
discern them in the text, and draw them out ; but it is not the 
ground of our believing them, — even as seeing and hearing are 
instrumental in our attaining the knowledge of the Scriptures, 
but are not the ground of our faith in them. 

The Scriptures, including the necessary consequences of their 
•express words, are a perfect and complete rule of our 
faith and practice, informing us of every thing which we 
ought to believe or do, in order to our entrance into the glori- 
fied state. 1. The Scripture is represented as perfect, fitted to 
answer every necessary end, and to bring us to everlasting hap- 
piness, Psalm xix. 8, 9. John xx. 31. 1 John v. 13. Rom. xv. 
4. 2 Tim. iii. 15 — 17. Psalm cxix. 97—100. Gal. vi. 16. 2. We 
are solemnly prohibited to add to, or take from it, in the least, 
Deut. iv. 2. and xii. 32. Gal. i. 8, 9. Rev. xxii. 18, 19. 3. All 
doctrinal traditions of men relative to our faith or practice in 
religion are plainly condemned and rejected by God, Mat. xv. 

2, 3, 9. Isa. viii. 20. 1 Cor. iv. 6. — Indeed, many of 

Christ's expressions are not mentioned in Scripture, but in it 
we have the substance of them, and all that God requires us to 
know concerninghim, John xxi. 25. and xx. 31. — The traditions 
which the Thessalonians are required to hold fast and observe, 
were the doctrines of faith and the rules of conversation held 
forth to them in the apostolical sermons and w r ritings, at that 
time, when the greater part of the New Testament was un- 
written, 2 Thess. ii. 15. iii, 6, The trust committed to Ti- 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION". 91 

mothy was not oral traditions, but the gospel and form of sound 
ri'ords, and the excellent gifts with which God had qualified him 

for preaching it, 1 Tim. vi. 20. 2 Tim. i. 13. The Popish 

as well as the Jewish traditions, are so uncertain in their origin, 
and in their conveyance, and most of them so plainly disagree- 
able to the word of God, as to merit none of our regard. 

No new revelations are to be added to the oracles of God con- 
tained in the Scriptures. 1. Though particular favourites of 
God may enjoy his private suggestions relative to private events 
or duties, — no private Spirit is to be regarded as a director to 
the church, Gal. i. 8, 9. 2 Thess. ii. 2. Acts, xviii. 28. Isa. 
viii. 20. — And, even private suggestions from God are ordina- 
rily conveyed in some scripture. 2. The deceitfulness of Satan 
and our own hearts render private revelations very uncertain 
to ourselves, and much more so to others, Jer. xvii. 9. Prov. 
xxviii. 26. 2 Cor. xi. 14. and ii. 11. 2 Thess. ii. 9, 10. Mat. 
xxiv. 24. — And it is observable, that none plead for the autho- 
rity of private revelations, but such as, by the contrariety ot 
their opinions and practices to the Scripture, manifest them- 
selves to be led by a Spirit of delusion. 3. The Scriptures ex- 
pressly foretel the rise of false prophets, under a mask of high 
attainments in religion, Mat. vii. 15. and xxiv. 11, 24. Acts 
xx. 29, 30. 2 Thess. ii. 8, 9. 1 Tim. iv. 1—3. 2 Tim. iii. 2 — 6, 

13. 1 John iv. 1. and ii. 18. To anticipate objections it may 

be observed, 1. That the word of God is spiritual, quick, and 
powerful, and becomes a dead letter, only through the corrup- 
tion of men's hearts, Rom. vii. 6, 14. Heb. iv. 12. 2 Cor. iii. 6. 
2. That the Scripture-promises of the Spirit relate either to. 
his extraordinary influences in the Apostolick age, or his ordi- 
nary operations in other ages, by means of the Scripture — 
which are sometimes expressed in figurative language, Joel ii. 
28. Acts ii. 16 — 18. Rom. viii. 16. 1 Thess. v. 19. Johnxiv. 
26. and xvi. 14. 1 Johnii. 20, 27. and v. 6. 

The perfection of the Scripture also excludes all dictates of 
Fathers or writers of the primitive church after the apostles, 
from all place in the regulating standard of our faith and prac- 
tice. 1. All these fathers were fallible men, and often changed 
their opinions. Augustine, one of the most judicious of them 
all, wrote a whole book retracting his mistakes. 2. In their 
writings, especially if extensive, they often contradict them- 
selves, as well as one another. 3. Sensible of their readiness 
to err, they earnestly warn their readers against an implicit be- 
lieving or following of themselves. 4. Several productions as- 
cribed to them, are not really theirs. And such as they formed 
have been exceedingly corrupted by the ignorance, inadver- 
tence, or villainy of the transcribers.— — Most of these reasons. 



9» OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

equally militate against our receiving the decrees of Popes or 
Councils, as any part of our Rule in religion. 

The Scriptures being our only rule of faith and practice, in 
order to eternal life, ought to be read both publickly and pri- 
vately, in a language that is understood. 1. The Lord com- 
mands and encourageth all adult persons of every age and rank 
to read them, Deut. vi. 6. xi. 19. xvii. 18, 19. xxxi. 11, 12. 
Josh. i. 8. Isa. vii. 20. xxxiv. 16. Luke xvi. 29, 31. John 
v. 39. Psalm i. 2. 1 Tim. iv. 13. Rev. i. 3. Acts xvii. 11. 
— and reproves men for their ignorance of them, Mat. xxii. 
29. Hos. iv. 6. and viii. 12. Isa. xxvii. 11. 2. The approv- 
ed practice of saints exemplifies the reading of Scripture, Neh. 
viii. 3, 6, 8. Luke iv. 16. Acts xiii. 27. andxv. 21. and xvii. 
11. and viii. 28. 2 Tim.iii. 15. 3. The Scripture is formed 
and appointed by God for the use of all men in general, Heb. 
ii. 1. Rom. i. 2. Eph. iii. 9. ; and the several uses of i ^men- 
tioned by the Holy Ghost, are necessary for all men, 2 Tim. 
iii. 15 — 17. Rom. xv. 4. John xx. 31. Eph. vi. 17. 2 Cor. iii. 
4. 1 Pet. i. 23. ii. 2. Psal. cxix. 9, 11. 2 Pet. iii. 1. Jude, verse 
3. 1 John i. 4. ii. 26. and v. 13. 4. The saints' characters of 
prophets, priests, and judges, require them all to be thoroughly 
acquainted with God's mind and law, Psal. cv. 15. 1 Pet. ii. 5, 
9. 1 Cor. ii. 15. vi. 2. 5. The Scriptures were originally writ- 
ten in languages, which were then understood by the people of 
God, and others to whom they came, clearly with a view that 
all might read them, and therefore ought still to be translated 
into the vulgar languages, that every one may read and under- 
stand them. And indeed, till Antichrist prevailed in the church, 
great care was taken to have them both translated and read. 

Every passage of Scripture may be applied to the different 
purposes of instruction, direction, reproof, consolation, and the 
like, 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17. Rom. xv. 4. — Many have a complex 
meaning, relating first to the type, and then to the antitype. 
The Jews, being a typical nation, much of their history hath 
such a complex.sense. Many prophecies have a complex mean- 
ing, including several steps of fulfilment in the Jewish nation, 
Christian church, and heavenly state, the former steps being 
types or earnests of the latter,. — or, in both church and state, 
In the Song of Solomon, and similar allegories, the spiri- 
tual things intended by the Holy Ghost are the only meaning, 
which the emblems are used merely to represent. But no Scrip- 
ture hath two or more meanings strictly different. 1. The 
Scripture is fitted to render men 7cise unto salvation; and 
therefore must exhibit the mind and will of God in a certain, 
clear, and determinate manner, 2 Tim. iii. 15. Psalm xix. 7. cxix. 
97 — 100. 2. Its uncorrupted purity and perspicuity proves, that 
the same passages cannot have several different meanings, 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION 9o 

Psalm xii. 6. 1 Pet. ii. 2. 3. None of its texts being of private 
interpretation, no meaning ought ever to be affixed to any, but 
that which was certainly intended by the Holy Ghost, 2 Pet. i. 
20, 21. iii. 16. 2 Cor. ii. 17. The apostles indeed some- 
times quote, or seem to quote, passages of the Old Testa- 
ment, in a sense which we apprehend not to be literal. But 
these either relate to things typical, and have their fulfilment in 
different steps : or, they are quoted merely by accommodation 
to the apostle's subject : or, perhaps are not quoted at all, 
but merely alluded to, in expressions almost similar. 

All men, particularly all Christians, have aright to judge for 
themselves of the meaning of Scripture, with a judgment of 'dis- 
cretion. And their exercising it is both commended and com- 
manded by God ; nor could their reading or hearing of Scrip- 
ture be profitable to their souls without it, Acts xvii. 11. 
1 Cor. ii. 15. and x. 15. and vii. 23. 2 Cor. iv. 2. Heb. v. 14. 
Gal. i. 8. 1 John iv. 1. 1 Thess. v. 21. Rom. xv. 4 John v. 39. 
Isa. xxxiv. 16 —Church rulers have a definitive publick mi- 
nisterial power to judge the meaning of Scripture, that they 
may declare and apply it to others, Mai. ii. 7. Matt, xxviii. 19, 
20. 2 Tim. ii. 15, 16. and iv. 2. Neh. viii. 8. Acts ii. 29, 36,39. 
and viii. 35. and xx. 20,21, 24, 27 — 32. 1 Cor. xv. 1,3, 4, 11, 
12. and iv. 1, 2. and ii. 4, 5. and i. 24. 2 Cor. i. 24. Heb. v. 12. 

1 Cor. xiv. 29, 32, 33. But no mere man, neither church, 

nor fathers, nor popes, nor councils, are infallible judges as to 
the meaning of Scripture, or supreme determiners of controver- 
sies in religion. But the Holy Ghost himself speaking in the 
Scripture, is the only supreme and infallible judge. 1. All 
churches and councils consist of, and all popes and fathers are, 
fallible men. They have often erred and contradicted them- 
selves, or one another, and are sometimes the parties to be judged. 
Nor are men capable of judging in causes which were never be- 
fore them, or did not exist in their particularform, till many years 
after their death. 2. The Scripture never mentions any such 
infallible judge on earth. 3. The command of God, and the 
example of Christ and his apostles, require us to appeal, for the 
determination of every dispute relative to faith and practice in 
religion, to the Scripture itself, Deut. xvii. 10. Isa. viii. 20. and 
xxxiv. 16. Luke xvi. 29, 31. John v. 39. 1 John iv. 1. 2 Pet. 
i. 19. Acts xvii. 11. James iv. 11, 12. Mat.xxiii. 8 — 10. andiv. 
2 — 10. and xxii. 29 — 33. John v. vii. viii. x. Luke xxiv. 27. 
Acts xv. 15 — 20. and xviii. 28. xxvi. 22. And the Pharisees 
and Sadducees are condemned for departing from the Scrip- 
ture as their standard of judgment, Mat. xv. 3, 9. and xxii. 29. 

Human reason is of great use to examine the Scripture 
marks of its divine authority ; — to defend it against enemies 



"a* «P TftB REVEALBD STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

who attempt to deny, corrupt, or wrest it ; — to draw out the 
consequences, and trace out the manifold connection between 
the divine mysteries contained in it ; — to compare scriptures 
one with another, or even with the laws of nature ; — to illus- 
trate divine truths by hints taken from philosophy, natural his- 
tory, &c. and thus to discover whether such a meaning affixed 
to a text be contrary to common sense, or to other passages of 
Scripture, Mat. vii. 15. and xvi. 6. Col. ii. 8. 1 Thess. v. 21. 
Heb. v. 14. Acts xvii. 11. 1 Cor. ii. 15. x. 15. xi. 13. Gal. hi. 

15 — 17. 2 Tim. iii. 16. Tit. i. 9. But human reason is not 

to be admitted to judge what parts of revelation are to be be- 
lieved and practised, what not ; or even as an infallible mean 
of understanding the meaning of Scripture : for, 1 . The reason 
of unregenerate men is wholly, and that of regenerate men 
partially blind and corrupt, Eph. iv. 17, 18. Rom. i. 27, 28. 
viii. 7/8. Jer. xvii. 9. Eph. v. 8. 1 Cor. ii. 14. i. 19, 21. iii. 

19, 20. Deut. xxix. 4. 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. iii. 5, 14, 15. xi. 3. 1 
Cor. xiii. 12. 2. The mysteries of Revelation infinitely trans- 
cend our reason, and are incomprehensible by it, 1 Cor. i. 19, 

20. ii. 9. iii. 18, 19. Rom. xi. 33. 1 Tim. iii. 16. John i. 18. 
Mat. xvi. 17. xi. 25. 3. God represents our faith, in the matters 
of religion, as not founded upon the authority of men, but only 
on his oracles of truth, Deut. iv. 1. Isa. viii. 20. John v. 39. 
xx. 31. 2 Tim. iii. 15. Rom. x. 14—17. 1 Thess. ii. 16. 
2 Pet. i. 19. Acts xvii. 11.2 Cor. i. 24. iv. 2. 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5. 
— Our religion is nevertheless a reasonable service, not out- 
ward and camai like the Jewish ceremonies, but spiritual, per- 
formed in the gracious exercise of our reason, Rom. xii. 1. 

The proper means of njiderstanding and explaining the Scrip- 
tures, are, 1. Much fervent prayer for the powerful illumination 
and direction of the Holv Ghost, who indited them, and for his 
effectual application of them to our heart, Psalm cxix. 18. Eph. 
i. 18, 19. and iii. 14 — 19. 2. Frequent attentive reading of 
them, and meditating on them, with a single and earnest desire 
to know the mind of God by them, laying open and submitting 
our consciences to it, that we may believe and practise it, John 
v. 39. Acts xvii. 11. Psalm i. 2. cxix. 97 — 100. 1 Tim. iv. 13, 
15. Mat. vi. 22. 3. Careful comparison of scriptures one with 
another, that they may illustrate one another, and that we may 
never affix any sense to a particular text, but that which is 
agreeable to the analogy of faith or general scheme of gospel 
truth, and also to the context, Rom. xii. 6. 4. We must care- 
fully attend to the occasion and scope of the book, and particu- 
lar passage, which we incline to understand or explain, that 
the sense on which we fix may be corresponding. 5. We must 
never depart from the true literal sense of a text, in order to fix 
©n that which some call the spiritual meaning, -without the most 









OP THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RRUGION. i/5 

ev idefct and forcible reasons. Nor ever fix a carnal sense upon 
any text which is clearly allegorical. — Spiritual improvement 
may and ought to be drawn from every passage : but no plain 
historical one ought to be wrested into any mystical meaning. 
—If histories relate to types, the history of the type and the 
mystery of the antitype, ought to be conjunctly considered. 
6. Especially they, who profess to explain the scripture to others, 
ought to understand it in its original languages, in which the 
truths of God appear with incomparable light and emphasis. — 
Such as cannot read the originals, ought carefully to peruse the 
best translations and their marginal readings. 7. The figures 
of Scripture language ought to be carefully observed, and the 
customs alluded to, and sects and offices mentioned, to be 
thoroughly known. 8. To understand the histories, and espe- 
cially the predictions, we ought to be furnished with a conside- 
rable knowledge of geography and of the histories of the 
nations, and especially of the church. 9. We must never rest 
in a general knowledge of a text, but diligently search out what 
is chiefly and emphatically represented in it ; — the discernment 
of which often depends upon our accurate attention to a single 
and insignificant-like particle in it, as in, by, of, through, 

WHEN, THEN, BUT, YET, THEREFORE, &C 10. Careful, but 

never implicit perusal of judicious commentaries, especially 
such as are most evangelical and practical, which earnestly at- 
tend to the connection, and lead us to compare one text with 
another. 11. In perusing the Scriptures, we ought always 
seriously to remember, that we are in God's presence, listen- 
ing to his voice, and searching his word, in which the eternal 
salvation of our soul is contained. Scarcely any thing more 
effectually hardens the heart, than a mere notional or philoso- 
phical perusal of the Scriptures. 

In general, the Scripture is divided into the Old Testament, 
which, representing Christ as to come in the flesh, was published 
before his incarnation : — and the New, which represents him 
as already come in the flesh, humbled in his obedience and suf- 
ferings, and exalted in his resurrection and ascension to heaven, 
and hath been since published, and is far more clear and spiri- 
tual, and directed to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews. In 

both Testaments, at least in the translations, we have, first the 
historical books, which are generally plainest ; next the doctri- 
nal, many passages of which need to be illustrated from the his- 
torical ; and lastly, the prophetical, which are generally most 
obscure, and need to be illustrated from the preceding classes. 
— In respect of their matter, the revelations contained in Scrip, 
ture may be distinguished into, 1 . Histories, which represent the 
past circumstances of cities and countries, and what hath been 
done by God or men. 2. Predictions, in which God foretds 



96 <>F THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION 

what should happen in some future periods. 3. Doctrines, which 
declare the permanent nature of persons and things, — as of God 
in his perfections, persons, purposes, and works ; of angels, 
in their qualities, states, and work : — of man in his inno- 
cent, fallen, recovered, and eternal states : — or concerning the 
covenants of work and of grace, in their origin, making, par- 
ties, parts, and administration, &c. 4. Laws, in which the na- ' 
ture and parts of our duty to God, to ourselves, and to our 
neighbours, and the means of our salvation, are exhibited and 
appointed. 5. Promises, in which God intimates his will to 
confer benefits on men : and, 6. Thrcatenings, in which he de- 
clares his will to punish or correct men for their transgressions 
of his law. Both these last are related to predictions, and are 
sanctional enforcements of his laws ; and many of them are con- 
ditional,the promises supposing some good quality or behaviour, 
in the promises, or persons to whom they are made ; — and the 
threatenings supposing continued impenitence in sinning : hence 
their fulfilment is not to be expected or feared, unless the sup- 
posed conditions first take place. Some promises and threat- 
enings are running or permanent, respecting blessings or mise- 
ries, which are common to men in every nation or age : Others 
are restricted to particular periods, persons, or societies. 

All things delivered in Scripture are equally true, Psalm xii. 
6. xix. 9. cxix. 128. Prov. xxx. 5. But they are not all of 
equal importance, Mat. xxiii. 23. Mark xii. 30 — 34. Some 
being fundamental truths, without the knowledge, faith and 
practice of which, no adult person can be saved ; others notfun- 
damental in this sense ; — and others so connected with both 
kinds, that it can scarcely be determined to which of them they 
chiefly belong.— It is certain, that nothing can be a fundamental 
article of revealed religion, which isnot plainly as well as really 
contained in the Scripture, 2 Tim. iii. 15 — 17. 1 Cor. i. 24, 25. 
Mat. xi. 25. Heb. v. 11 — 14. vi. 1, 2. It isno less clear, l.That 
every truth, without the knowledge of which there can be no 
faith in Christ, repentance unto life, or worship of the true God, 
must bt fundamental, Heb. xi. 6. xii. 14. Tit. ii. 11, 12. Mark 
xvi. 16. Rom. x. 14. Johnxvii. 3. v. 23, 24. with x. 30. 1 John 
ii. 23. 2 John, ver. 9. 2. Every truth, to the cordial belief of 
which eternal salvation is annexed in Scripture ; and with the 
ignorance or unbelief of which eternal damnation is connected, 
must be fundamental : as, That Christ is come in thejlesh, 
and is risen from the dead ; and that we are saved by God's 
free grace, and justified through the imputed righteousness of 
Christ, 1 John iv. 2, 3. John viii. 24. iii. 18, 36. Rom. x. 3, 9, 
10. Gal. i. 8, 9. ii. 19—21. v. 2, 4. 1 Cor. xv. 14. 3. Every 
truth, which the Scripture represents as a. foundation, — as the 
doctrines concerning Christ's mediatorial person, offices, and 



OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 97 

suites, must be fundamental, 1 Cor. ii). 11. Eph. ii. 20. Mat. 
xxi. 16, 18. 1 Tim. iii. 15, 16. 1 Cor. i. 24. ii. 2 Phil. iii. 8. 
1 Cor. xv. 14. 2Tim. ii. 8. 4. Every truth, without the know- 
ledge of which, other fundamental truths cannot be known or 
believed, must be held as fundamental. — Thus the knowledge 
of our sinfulness and misery as declared by God, is necessary 
to our knowledge of Christ and his salvation, and our believing 
on him as our Saviour, 1 John i. 8, 10. 1 Tim. i. 15. Mat. ix. 
13. xviii. 11. Rev. iii. 17, 18. Hos. xiii. 9. 

As God hath given us no precise list of fundamental truths ; — 
as some truths which penhaps are not strictly fundamental, lie 
very near the foundation, and some truths in an advanced state 
of the church may be fundamental, which were not so in her 
infant-state, — as all the truths of Revelation are of unspeakable 
importance, and even essentially neccssawi in their own place, 
— and as all attempts to determine which are fundamental, and 
which not, are calculated to render us deficient and slothful 
in the study of religious knowledge ; — To fix precisely what 
truths are fundamental and what not, is neither necessainj, nor 
projitable, nor safe, nor possible. — But it is certain, that the 
whole of the Christian religion doth not consist in the temper 
of mind, or in the observance of God's commands, and having 
a hope in his promises, without regard to orthodoxy of princi- 
ples. 1. God in his word, besides precepts and promises, hath 
plainly revealed many things, which, it cannot be supposed, he 
hath dcjine in vain, Rom. i. — xi. Gal. i. — iv. 2 Cor. v. Eph. i. 
— iv. Col. i. ii. Heb. i. — x. &c. 2. Knowledge of, and sound- 
ness in the principles of revealed religion, are commanded, re- 
commended, promised, and prayed for, in Scripture, as a ne- 
cessary part of religion, 1 Tim. ii. 4. 1 John iii. 23. ii. 23. John 
xvii. 3. and xx. 31. 2 Tim. iii. 15. ii. 8. i. 1. 2 John 9,10. Isa. i. 
3. xxvii. 11. Hos. iv.6. 2 Thess. i. 8. 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. Isa. xi. 9. 
xxix. 18, 24. 2 Pet. i. 2. Col. ii. 2. iii. 16. Eph. i. 18. iii. 17 — 
19. iv. 14. 3. There can be no acceptable obedience to God's 
precepts, or hope in his promises, without the sound knowledge 
of them, and the true faith of other divine truths, Rom. 
x. 9, 10. xiv. 23. Heb. xi. 6. John vi. 29, 39, 40. 4. Such as 
obstinately maintain opinions contrary to the fundamental truths 
of the gospel are accwsed by God, and condemned to everlast- 
ing-destruction, Tit. iii. 10. 1 John ii. 22, 23. Gal. i. 8,9. v. 20. 

Reflect. Ponder now, my soul ! Are these oracles of God, 
these testimonies and testaments of Jesus Christ, my heritage, 
the word upon which he hath caused me to hope ? Are they 
my divine charter for my everlasting life ? — Are they even now 
ray food, and the rejoicing of my heart? — Are they sweeter 

Q 



98 OF THE REVEALED STANDARD OF RELIGION. 

than honey to my taste,,and more gladdening than great spoil ? 
— Are they my counsellors, with whom I converse by day and 
by night,. — in the house, or on the way, — when I lie down and 
when I rise up ? — Do I, in every deed, understand their de- 
lightful contents ? — Do I believe their exceeding great and pre- 
cious promises ? — Do, or can I, sing their new songs in the 
house of my pilgrimage ? — While I speak or write of them, are 
they to me a vailed, a dead letter ? Or, are they indeed the 
self-evidencing word of God, — spirit and life, — quick and 
powerful, piercing to the dividing asunder of my joints and 
marrow ? — What passages have particularly affected my soul ; 
and in what manner ? — What have I hid in my heart, that I 
might not sin against God ? — What promises have I received, 
and held fast as my enriching bonds on the Bank of Jesus' and 
his Father's infinite grace ? — What have I laid up for cordials 
to my soul, in her departing moments ? — Dare not, my soul, 
to commence or continue a preacher of these divine truths, 
while I myself have no spiritual knowledge of their power. — 
Alas ! how shall I hold up_my face at Jesus's tribunal, if I 
wickedly take his covenant in my mouth, — publishing it to 
others, before my own heart say of it, This is all my salva- 
tion, and all my desire. — Blush deep, O my soul,->-that I have 
so long enjoyed this scripture glass, and turned my back to 
it ; — so little beheld Jesus and his salvation in it ! — that I have 
had in my house this treasure, this live coal of infinite, of re- 
deeming love, and yet my heart so little moved, melted, and 
inflamed by it ! — that I have so long had this table richly fur- 
nished with the flesh, the blood, nay all the fulness of God, 
and yet have scarcely tasted that the Lord is gracious ; — that 
I have so long had my hands full of this grace and truth, — 
full of redemption through Jesus's blood, full of a three-one . 
God of infinite and everlasting excellency and love, — and yet J 

my heart still so empty. Let me not dare to proceed to the 

contemplation of his nature and works, till I believe his word, 
and receive his unspeakable gift, that I may, on that ground, 
all along say of him, My Lord and my God, — my God and 

MY ALL. 



OF THE NATURE OR PFRFECTIONS OF GOD. 99 



BOOK II. 

OF GOD, THE AUTHOR, THE OBJECT, AND END OF ALL RE- 
LIGION, IN HIS PERFECTIONS, PERSONS, PURPOSES, AND 
WORKS. 



CHAP. I. 

Of the Nature or Perfections of God. 

THE Scripture represents mankind as instructed in the 
knowledge of God by his works of creation and providence, 
Psalm xix. 1 — 6. Rom. i. 19, 20, 32. and ii. 14, 15. Acts 
xiv. 15 — 17. and xvii. 23. And, white it supposes, it also 
solemnly asserts and proves, his existence, and represents his 
Names, Nature, Perfections, Persons, Purposes, and Works. 

The proper names which are ascribed to God in the Old 
Testament, are, El, which denotes him the strong and power- 
ful God, Gen. xvii. 1. Isa. ix. 6. Eloah, which represents 
him as the only proper object of worship, Gen. i. 1. Psalm 
xlv. 6, 7. Shaddai, which denotes him to be all-sufficient 
and all-mighty, Gen. xvii. 1. Exod. vi. 3. Hhheljon, which 
represents his incomparable excellency, absolute supremacy 
over all, and his peculiar residence in the highest heavens, 
Psalm 1. 14. and lvi. 2. Adon, which marks him the great 
Connector, Supporter, Lord and Judge of all creatures, Psalm 
ex. 1. xvi. 2. J ah, which may denote self existence and gremg 
of being to his creatures, or his infinite comeliness and answer- 
ableness, to himself and to the happiness of his creatures, Exod. 
xv. 2. Psalm lxviii. 4. exxx. 3. Isa. xxvi. 4. Ehjeh, I am, 
or I will be, which denotes his self-existence, absolute inde- 
pendence, immutable eternity, and all-sufficiency to his peo- 
ple, Exod. iii. 14. Rev. i. 4, 8. Jehovah, which denotes his 
self- existence, absolute independence, and unsuccessive eterni- 
ty, with his effectual and marvellous giving of being to his 
creatures, and fulfilling his promises, Gen. ii. 4, 7, 8, 16, 19, 
21, 22. iii. 1. x. 9, 10. xii. 1, 4, 7. — This name of God was 
known in the earliest ages of the world, Gen. iv. 1. ix. 26. 
v. 29. xiv. 22. xv. 7. xxiv. 7. And so God not being 



100 OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 

known to the patriarchs by it, means no more than that he 
had not demonstrated the propriety of it in any remarkable ful- 
filment of promises, Exod. vi. 3.. This name often, in part, 
composes the names of persons or things ; in that state, it 
merely denotes a relation to Jehovah, but taken simply by it- 
self, it is never ascribed to any but God. 1. He alone is Je- 
hovah, Psalm lxxxiii. 18. Isa. xxxvii. 20. xlv. 5, 6. 2. This 
name is represented as a distinguishing name of God, Isa. xlii. 

8. Exod. xv. 3. Hos. xii. 5. Amos v. 8. and is his great and ter- 
rible name, Psal. xcix. 3. 3. The excellency which it denotes is 
applicable to none but God, Psal. xcvi. 5. Isa. xliv. 24. — 
Wherever an angel is called Jehovah, or Lord, in capitals 
in our translation, he must be understood to be the Son of God, 
who is the Messenger of Jehovah, or Messenger-Jehovah, 
Gen. xvi. 13. xviii. 13, &c. 

In the New Testament, God is called Kurios or Lord, 
which denotes his self-existence, his establishment of, and his 
authority over all things ; — and Theos, which represents him 
as the Maker, the Pervader, .and the governing Observer of 
all things. — This name Theos, as well as El and Eloah, 
which we render God, is a name which represents his divine 
nature, not merely his power or office. 1. All persons having 
power and authority are not truly Gods, 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6. 
2. God is represented as a God by nature, to distinguish himfrom 
idols, Gal. iv. 8. 3. He was God before his power had formed 
any creatures, or he had any to govern, Rom.i. 20. xvi. 26. Psal. 
xc. 2. 4. Theotes, or Theiotes, godhead, means not power, 
or office, but a divine nature, Acts xvii. 29. Rom. i. 20. Col. ii. 

9. 5. No creature is called God without some limitation annex- 
ed, which plainly imports, that they are not so by nature : an- 
gels and magistrates are called gods, because of their being his 
deputies in his government of the world, and resembling his 
majesty, wisdom, power, and equity, Psal. xcvii. 7. lxxxii. 6^ 
John x. 34. Exod. iv. 16. vii. 1. xxii. 28. — Idols, devils, and 
men's bellies, are called gods, because they are often regarded 
or worshipped instead of the true God, Psal. cxv. 4. 2 Cor. 
iv. 4. Philip^ iii. 19.. 

God is represented by a multitude of metaphorical names, as a 
Man, a Lion, a Rock, &c. — Besides the names which represent 
the divine nature, there are others which represent particular 
persons in the godhead, as Father, Son, Jesus Christ, Holy 
Ghost or Spirit, Matth. xxviii.l9.2Cor. xiii. 14. — The titles 
which denote what relation God hath to others, belong to his 
name. — Some of them, as Creator of all the ends of the earth, 
Isa. xl. 28. Preserver of men, Job vii. 29. King of nations, Jer. 
x. 7. T/ord of Hosts, belong to him as the God of nature. — 
Others as the<iod and Father of Christ, Eph.i. 3. 1 Pet. i. 3. 
John xx. 17. 2 Cor. i. 3. The God of Abraham, of Isaac, 



OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTION'S OF GOD. 101 

and of Jacob, Exod. iii. 6. — The God and the Holy one of 
Israel, 2 Sam. xxiii. 3. Isa. xlviii. 17. — King of saints, Kc\ . 
xv . .5. — Father of mercies, and God of all comfort, 2 Cor. i. 
3. — The God of mercy, Psal. lix. 17. — The 'God of grace, 

1 Pet. v. 10. — The God of Peace, Rom. xvi. 20. 2 Cor. xiii. 
11. Heb. xiii. 20. — The God of salvation, Psalm lxiii. 20. — 
The hearer of prayer, &c. — belong to him as God in Christ, 
reconciling the world to himself 

In respect of his substance, God is a most pure spirit, hav- 
ing an understanding and will, without any bodily parts, any 
affections or passions. 1. He is expresslv represented as a 
Spirit, John iv. 24. Num. xxiv. 2. Judg. iii. 10. Ezck. xi. 24. 

2 Cor. iii. 17, 18. and as the God, the Father, and the former 
of spirits, Num. xvi. 22. Heb. xii. 9. Zee. xii. 1. with Luke 
xxiv. 39. 2. He is represented as altogether incorporeal and 
invisible, Job x. 4. ix. 11. iv. 16, 17. xxiii. 3, 4, 8. Isa. xl. 18. 
Deut. iv. 15, 16. Exod. xxxiii. 20. John v. 37. i. 18. Rom. i. 

20, 23. 1 Tim. i. 17. vi. 16. Heb. xi. 27. 3. Immortal life is 
ascribed to him, Deut. xxxiii. 40. Jer. x. 10. 2 Cor. vi. 16. 1 
Thess. i. 9. 1 Tim. i. 17. iv. 10. vi. 16. Acts xiv. 15. Rom. i. 
23. Rev. i. 18. Gen. xvi. 13. Psal. xviii. 46. Which life is 
manifested in his giving and preserving that natural or spirit- 
ual life which his creatures enjov, Acts xvii. 25 — 29. Psal. 
xxxvi. 9. 1 Tim. vi. 13. Rom. iv. 17. 1 John v. 20. John v. 

21, 25, 26, 28. xiv. 19. 4. Spiritual acts of thinking and wil- 
ling are ascribed to him, Psal. xxxiii. 11. xl. 5.cxxxix. 2. cxlvii. 
4, 5. xcii. 3. Isa. Iv. 8. Jer. xxix. 11. Psal. cxv. 3. Rev. iv. 11. 
Dan. iv. 35. Isa. xlvi. 10. xiv. 24, 27. Eph. i. 11. Phil. ii. 13. 
Rom. ix. 16, 18. 5. The power, wisdom, holiness, justice, 
goodness, and truth, — the persons, purposes, and works, hereaf- 
ter proved to belong to him, harmoniouslv manifest him a 

most pure Spirit. The bodily members attributed to him in 

Scripture, are but instructive emblems of his spiritual perfec- 
tions and acts, — used in condescension to our weakness, Hos. 
xii. 10. — In this manner also, all the affections or passions of 
desire, joy, hope, fear, grief, anger, &c. ascribed to him are 
to be understood. Moreover, God having alwavs dealt with 
men, in the way of covenant-connections, many of these affec- 
tions are intended to represent him as a friend, or enemv, ac- 
cording to the tenour of these covenants. And the changes seem- 
ingly attributed to him, really import the change in, or on us, 
from being under die covenant of works, to be in the covenant 
of grace. 

The ATTRIBUTES, PERFECTIONS, OR EXCELLENCIES of God. 

are the essential and absolutelv inseparable properties of his 
spiritual substance or nature. These may be distinguished into 
those called communicable, of which some faint, but infiniteh 
defective resemblances, maybe found among his creatures, — a.-. 



102 OP THE NATURE OR PERFCTIONS OP GOD. 

knowledge,wisdom, power, holiness, justice,goodness,and truth 
■ — and incommunicable, of which noresemblance can be found 
among his creatures, — as self-existence, absoiute independence, 
absolute simplicity, infinity, unsuccessive eternity, unchangea- 
bleness, necessary oneness, and subsistence in three distinct per- 
sons. 

I. The knowledge of God is that intellectual perfection by 
which he discerns objects. He knows allthings, Psal. cxlvii. 

5. Johnxxi. 17. 1 John i. 5. iii. 20. Heb. iv. 13. Job xxxiv. 
21, 22. xxxvi. 4, 5. Psalm xciv. 7 — 10. cxxxix. 4 — 7. Jer. 
xxiii. 24. He knows, 1. Himself in all his unbounded per- 
fections and mysterious purposes, Matth.xi. 27. Johni. 18. x. 
15. 1 Cor. i. 10. Jer. xxix. 11. Actsxv. 18. 2.. All his crea- 
tures, great and small, possibly or really existent, Psal. cxlvii. 
4. Mat. x. 30. Actsxv. 18. Deut. xxix. 29. Job xii. 22. xxviii. 
8, 10, 24. xxvi. 4 — 6. xxiv. 1. xxxiv. 21,22. 2 Chron. xvi. 9. 
Prov. xv. 3. Psal. xxxiii. 13 — 15. xi. 4. cxxxviii. 6. Jer. xxiii. 
24. 2 Tim. ii. 19. 3. All the actions of his creatures, good and 
bad, Prov. v. 21. xv. 3. Job xxxiv. 21, 22. Psal. lxix. 5. xc. 8. 
cxxxix. 7 — 13. xxxiii. 13 — 18. xxxiv. 15. i. 6. lvi. 8. Neh. i. 7. 

1 Sam. ii. 3. Jer. xvi. 17. xxxii. 19. Isa. xxvi. 7. Hab. i. 13. 
4. All the secret properties and thoughts or desires of human 
hearts, Gen. vi. 5. Heb. iv. 12, 13. Psal. cxxxix. 1 — 4. vii. 9. 
xxxviii. 9. 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. 1 Sam. xvi. 7. Deut. xxxi. 21. 
Prov. xv. 11. xvi. 2. xxi. 2. Luke xvi. 15. Amos iv. 13. Jer. 
xvii. 5, 9, 10. xvi. 17. Acts i. 24. Rev. ii. 23. Rom. viii. 27. 

2 Chron. vi. 30. John ii. 24, 25. 1 Cor. iv. 5. 5. All future 
things, Psal. cxxxix. 3, 4. Isa. xlv. 20, 21. xli. 21 — 24. xlii. 9. 
xlvi. 9, 10. Jer. xxix. 11. Dan. ii. 20 — 22. Acts xv. 18. and hence 
he hath foretold most of them, Gen. iii. 14 — 19. and vi. 9. ix. 
xii. xiii. xlix. Lev. xxvi. Deut. xxvii — xxxiii, &c. 6. The 
connections between possible things, which never actually hap- 
pen, as he knows what his power can produce, and what de- 
pendence one circumstance must have upon another, Ezek. iii. 

6, 7. Mat. xi. 21, 23. 

God knows all these things : 1. Necessarily from himself, 
Psal. cxlvii. 5. 1 John i. 5. Dan. ii. 20 — 22. 2. Intuitively, by 
a simple glance, not as we know things, by any course of rea- 
soning or succession of ideas, Heb. iv. 13. Job xxviii. 23 — 28. 
3. Independentlv of all instruction from objects or teachers, 
Isa. xl. 13, 14. Rom. xi. 33, 34. Job xl. 2. 4. Distinctly and 
coinprehensivelv, — in their nature, number, properties, and 
conditions, 1 John i. 5. Isa. xl. 21. Psal. cxlvii. 4. cxxxix. 12, 
13, 14. 5. Infallibly, Matth. v. 18. Isa. xiv. 24, 26, 27. 
Acts xv. 8. Psal. cxxxix. 1 — 4. xi. 4. 6. Unchangeably, — 
let the created objects change as much as they will ; for all 
these changes proceed from his sovereign will, Actsxv. 18. Isa. 



OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 103 

xlvi. 10. — But conditional declarations of his will must be care- 
fully distinguished from predictions, 1 Sam. xxiii. 11, 12. 
Jonah iii. 

II. The knowledge of God, 1, As proposing the most 
proper ends for his conduct, Rom. xi. 36. Prov. xvi. 4. Isa. 
xliii. 21. 2. As choosing suitable means, 2 Sam. xiv. 14. 
3. As leading him to act by those means in proper circumstan- 
ces of time and place, Gal. iv. 4. Eph. i. 10. Ezek. xvi. 8. xxviii. 
25, 26. xxix. 21 . 4. As leading to act by a right rule or plan, 
Eph.i. 11. Isa. lvi. 10. Jer. xxix. 11. is called his wisdom. 

It appears that God is wise. 1. The Scriptures plainly de- 
clare that he is wise, Job xii. 13, 16. xxxvi. 4, 5. xxxviii. 
xxxix. xxviii. 12, 22 — 28. Prov. viii. Rom. xi. 33, 34. Isa. xl. 
13, 14. Dan. ii. 20. 1 Cor. i. 21 — 25. iii. 18. Eph. iii. 10. 1 Tim. 
i. 17. Jude 25. Rom xvi. 27. 2. He gives much wisdom to his 
creatures, 1 Kings iii. 12. iv. 29. Ezra vii. 25. Job xxxv. 10, 
11. xxxvi. 22. xxxviii. 16. Prov. ii. 6, 7. viii. 12. Eccl. ii. 26. 
Eph. iii. 10. Jam. i. 5. Isa. xxviii. 26. Job. xxxii. 8. Matth. 
xvi. 17. Isa. xlviii. 17. xxix. 24. Jer. xxxi. 34. 3. His wisdom 
is extensively and clearly manifested, 1. In his purposes, — in 
forming so perfectly exact a plan of all that comes to pass in 
time and eternity, — and of every thing in such perfect corres- 
pondence with his principal and subordinate ends, Isa. xl. 13, 14. 
xlvi. 10. xiv. 26, 27. Eph. i. 8 — 11. 2. In his creation of all 
things, Prov. viii. 22' — 31 — In the amazing variety of creatures, 
seeds, instincts, members, endowments, vegetative, sensible, 
or rational, — and of dispositions, quantities, forms, voices, &c. 
Psal. civ. 24. Gen. i. — In their beauty, and in their order, with 
respect to themselves, and in their situations and motions, Eccl. 
iii. 1 1 . — In their fitness to answer their respective ends, — and in 
so connecting things one with another, in an almost infinity of 
forms, Hos. ii. 21, 22. 3. In his providence, in 1. His up- 
holding and governing every creature and all its actions and 
motions, in exact correspondence to the ends appointed in every 
particular moment of time, Heb. i. 3. Eph.i. 11. 2. In making 
awful and threatening providences an introduction to the most 
glorious and delightful events. Thus Sarah's long continued 
barrenness introduced her becoming the mother of multitudes 
of nations. Jacob's dishonourable exile introduced his receiving 
of singular manifestations from God ; his wrestling and lame- 
ness, his reception of the invaluable blessing, Gen. xxi. xxviii. 
xxxii. — Horrible wickedness, fearful sorrow and anguish, and 
Jasting debasement, introduced the glorious advancement of 
Joseph, and the entrance and happiness of Jacob with his chil- 
dren into Egypt, Gen. xxxvii. — xlvii. The terrible miseries of 
the Israelites under their Egyptian oppressors, and under Saul, 



104 OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 

&c. introduced their most glorious deliverances and happiness, 
Exod. i. — to Josh. xxiv. 1 Sam. iv. — xxxi. — to 2 Sam. x. 
1 Chron. xi. — xxix. 1 Kings i. — x. Ignorance and wicked- 
ness, carried to the uttermost, did, as it were, prepare the 
world for the incarnation and atonement of Christ, and the 
honourable spread of his gospel, Rom. i. — iii. v. 20, 21. Tit. 
iii. 3 — 5. The persecution and murder of the Son of God, 
in our nature, by men, were instrumental in promoting the 
salvation of men through him, John xi. 47 — 52. Horrible 
power and progress in impiety and filthiness, have, as it 
were, introduced distinguished favours from God, and the 
most singular holiness of life, Rom. v. 20, 21. Acts ix. 22, 26. 
Gal. i. 12—24. 1 Cor. xv. 9, 10. 1 Thess. ii. 1—10. 1 Cor. vi. 
10, 11. 3. In promoting his own holy and glorious ends amidst 
all the different, contrary, or wicked ends of his instruments, 
Isa. x. 5 — 12. xliv. 28.xlv. 1 — 5. — Thus, while the Egyptians 
hastened the Israelites out of their country, that they might get 
rid of their plagues, God hastened them out that he might fulfil 
his promise to Abraham to a day, if not to a minute, Exod. xii. 
41, 42. with Gen. xv. 13 — 16. Contrary to the intention of 
Augustus, the Roman emperor, war or other accidents retarded 
the enrolment of his subjects in Canaan, till it could bring the 
virgin Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem to bring forth her di- 
vine child, that he, herself, and her husband, might all be en- 
rolled in the pubiick imperial registers of the world, as descen- 
dants of David and citizens of Bethlehem,'where they resided 
but a short time, Luke ii. Mat. ii. Mic. v. 2. Is. xi. 1. 4. In 
his pi-omoting multitudes of ends in one act. Thus the selling 
of Joseph for a slave, saved the Egyptians and their neighbours 
from perishingby famine,— correctedjacob's sinful indulgence of 
his children, — promoted Joseph's honour, — and drewhis father's 
family into Egypt, Gen. xxxvii. xlvii. Psalm cv. 5. In pro- 
moting ends which are exceedingly remote. Balak's hiring of 
Balaam to curse the Israelites, and Balaam's predictions thus 
occasioned, served to spread the report of the future incarnation 
of Christ among the eastern nations. — This, about 1500 years 
after, led the wise men to observe his Star, and come by its 
direction to worship him at his birth. Their presents supported 
Him, his mother, and supposed father, while they were exiles 
in Egypt, Num. xxii. — xxiv. with Mat. ii. 6. In easy counter- 
plotting his most crafty enemies, and making their most violent 
opposition of his will the very mean of promoting it, Prov. xxi. 
30. Psal. xxxiii. 10. Job v. 12, 13. xii. 16 — 20. Isa. xxix. 14. 
1 Cor. i. 20, 25, 27. Thus the hardness of Pharaoh's heart ren- 
dered the deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt more honour- 
able and God-like. The alarming invasions of Judea in the days 
of Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah, issued in the glory and the enrich- 



OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OP GOD. 1& 

mentofthe Jews, 2 Chron. xx. Isa. xxxiii. 3, 7. xxxvi. xxxvii. 
7. In his exact timing of events. The Israelites were restrained 
from entering Canaan, till the rebellious despisers of it were 
all dead, — till the iniquity of the Canaanites was full, and they 
had weakened themselves by their intestine wars, Num. xiv. 
26. Gen. xv. 16. Judges i. The incarnation of Christ was 
delayed, till the need of him to save men was fully manifest j 
— till repeated and wide-spread warnings had raised a sufficient 
expectation of him ; — till the Jews had become wicked enough 
to persecute and murder him ; — and till they had fallen under 
the power of the Romans, who crucified their slaves, Gal. iv. 4. 
Mat. ii. — xxvii. John v. — xix. The church, or her true mem- 
bers, seldom meet with remarkable deliverances till their trou* 
bles have come to an extremity, Micah iv. 10. Psalm xii. 5. 
Deut. xxxii. 36. Isa. xxxiii. 10. xli. 17, 18. Daniel xii. 1. Psalm. 
cxlii. 4, 5. exxiv. Acts xii. 6 — 14. Rev. xi. 7 — 15. 

More particularlv, God's wisdom appears in his providential. 
government of irrational creatures. 1. In guiding them all to 
promote ends, which are subservient to the general good of the 
world, as well as to his own glory, Prov. xvi. 4. Psalm civ. 
cxlviii. 2. In thus guiding them without their own design, and 
yet agreeablv to their diversified instincts. 3. In promoting his 
government by such means and instruments, as seem to take all 
the honour of the work, and yet reserving it all for himself, 

Rom. xi. 36. Rev. iv. 11 — 13. It more abundandy appears 

in his government of mankind. 1. In giving them laws suited 
to their nature, their condition, their conscience, and their com- 
fort, Rom. vii. 12, 14. 1 Tim. i. 8. Psalm xix. 7 — 10. cxix, 

2. In giving them sufficient ability, inclinations, and assistance 
to obey these laws, unless a curse procured by their disobedience- 
prevent it, Phil. ii. 12, 13. i. 6. Isa. xxvi. 12. 2 Thess. i. 11. 

3. In affording them proper motives and encouragements to 
obedience suited to their condition, Isa. Iv. 1 — 7. Jer. iii. Hos. 
xiv. 1 Cor. xv. 58. Heb. x. — xiii. 4. In the amazing suitable 
intimations of his will to them. Christ was long exhibited in 
promises and tvpes before he appeared in the flesh. He uttered 
several undervaluing-like words to his mother, whom, he fore- 
saw, the Papists would idolize. He peculiarly rebuked and re- 
corded the faults of Peter, whom, he foresaw, they would blas- 
phemouslv avow to be the infallible Head of their church. 
The doctrine of Justification by free grace, through faith in 
Christ's imputed righteousness, is chiefly delivered in an Epis- 
tle to the church at Rome, where, he foresaw, it would be pe- 
culiarly corrupted and denied, John ii. 4. Luke xi. 27, 28. Mat. 
xii. 48^ 49. xiv. 31. xvi. 22,23. xxvi. 34, 35, 69 — 75. Luke v. 8. 
John xiii. 6 — 10. xviii. 10, 11. xix. 26. xxi. 20 — 22. Gal. ii. 
11—14. Rom. i. — x. 5. In limiting their sinfulness, and bring- 

R 



109 OP THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OP GOD. 

ing glory to himself, and good to them, out of it ; and in making 
the rage and power of sin contribute to destroy itself, and ad- 
vance the glory of his free grace, Psalm lxxvi. 10. Rom. v. 20, 
21. 6. In that manner, the means, the tendency, and even the 
timing of every change made upon their state, nature, or condi- 
tion, harmoniously concur to mark his displeasure with sin, and 
to manifest the exceeding riches of his grace, Rom. v. 12 — 21. 
2 Tlv.ss. i. 6—11. Acts xxii. 6. 1 Tim. i. 11—17. 1 Cor. 8— 
10. Gal. i. 15, 16,22,23. Eph. i. 3 — 10. ii. 1 — 10. 

But, 4. In nothing doth the wisdom of God appear so much 
as in our redemption through Christ. It appears in the per- 
son of the Redeemer. 1 . In choosing him, who was the middle 
person in the godhead, and the Son of God, to mediate betsv ;n 
God and us, and make us the friends and children of God, that 
thus the order of mission and operation might correspond with 
that of the subsistence of the divine nature, John iii. 16. Rom. 
viii. 16, 17. Isa. lxi. 1. xlviii. 16. 2. In so uniting his finite 
and infinite natures, that they delightfully subsist in one person, 
without any confusion, composition, or oppositson, 1 Tim. iii. 
16. Jer. xxxi. 22. Isa. vii. 14. ix. 6. Zech. xiii. 7. John i. 14. 
Phil. ii. 6, 7. 3. In investing him with mediatorial offices, in- 
finitely well calculated to promote his own glory in the honour 
of Christ and our everlasting happiness, Isa. xlix. 1 — 9. xlii. 
1, 8. lxi. i. 3. Phil. ii. 6—13. Luke ii. 10—14. Eph. iii. 21. 
1 Pet. iv. 11. 4. In the form and order of his states of abase- 
ment and exaltation, infinitely answerable to our guilty, pol- 
luted, and wretched condition, — to the covenants and honour of 
every divine person, Luke ii. 10 — 14. Phil. ii. 6 — 11. Luke 
xxiv. 26. Heb. ii. 10. xiii. 20. — —It appears in the purchase 
of our redemption by the obedience and satisfaction of Christ, 

1. In reconciling the seemingly discordant perfections of the 
Diety, by the abasement and death of him, in whom they dwell, 
Psalm lxxxv. 10. Mat. iii. 15. Heb. ii. 10. with Col. ii. 9. 

2. In at once manifesting his greatest hatred of sin, and his 
greatest love to sinners, Rom. v. 6 — 10. iii. 24 — 26. viii. 3. 

3. In executing his infinite wrath on Christ, from infinite love 
to him and to us in him, Mat. iii. 17. xvii. 5. Isa. liii. 10. 
1 John iv. 9, 10. 4. In rendering the shame, ignominy, suffer- 
ings and death of Christ, the grand mean of honour, happiness, 
and life to him, as Mediator, and to us in him, Phil. ii. 6 — 11. 
Heb. ii. 8 — 10. Isa. liii. 10—12. Rom. v. 9—11, 15 — 21. 5. In 
making men's contempt, abuse, and murder of his Son, the 
mean of finishing transgression, making an end of sin, bring- 
ing in an everlasting righteousness, and destroying the domi- 
nion of Satan in the world, Dan. ix. 24. 1 John iii. 5, 6, 8. 
1 Peter ii. 24. iii. 18. Rev. v. 9. 6. In thus making every 
one of his perfections promote its own glory, by the strangest 



OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 107 

means.— Justice, by punishing the innocent Messiah, and by 
procuring pardon, peace, and happiness lor sinful guilty men, — 
Mercy, by drawing down fearful punishment on God's be- 
loved Son, that it might bestow everlasting favours upon the 
children of Satan, — rebels against God, and heirs of hell. — It 
appears in the publication of our redemption ; in that, 1. All the 
reports included in it exacdy correspond with our necessities, 
and with the ends for which they were intended and appoint- 
ed, 1 Tim. i. xv. 2. The publication was gradual, as men could 
bear it, Heb. i. 1. 3. The form of it was suited to the infant, 
or more adult, state of the church, and so was less or more 
spiritual, Heb. i. 1. x. 1. John i. 17. Col. ii. 17. 4. Imperfect 
hints relative to the incarnation of the Son of God, and hi s atone- 
ment for sin, were preserved or spread among the heathens, as 
a mean of facilitating the spread and belief of the gospel, Acts 
xvii. 23. 5. God took particular care to have all the Lad- 
ing facts of revelation singularly attested. 6. The more 
noted declarations of divine truth were remarkably well- 
timed. Those by Moses were published, when the Israelites 
in the wilderness had the utmost leisure to consider th -m. 
The reports of Christ's resurrection were published fi'ty 
days after it, when the murderous Jews had time to come 
to themselves, when the facts were exactly remembered, and 
when a part of fourteen nations, who attended the feast of 
Pentecost, were present to hear and spread them, Acts ii. 
7. In choosing such instruments and opportunities for this pub- 
Mention, as rendered his own power and goodness in the suc- 
cess of it more obvious, 2 Cor. iv. 7. It also appears in 

the application of our redemption' 1. The persons to whom 
it is ordinarily applied, are such as we would least expect 
should have his singular regard ; and yet that is made to 
manifest his glory, 1 Con i. 25—31. 1 Tim. i. 13, 16. 2. Their 
own or their neighbour's sinful conduct or misery often occa- 
sions the application. Thus Onesimus' theft and deserting 
his service, occasioned his conversion to Christ, Philem. 10 
— 16. 3. Even the rage of lust and overwhelming trouble are 
made the means of applying it, Rom. v. 20, 21. vii. 8 — 13. 
Isa xxxiii. 12 — 24. 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11, 12. Hosea ii. 7, 14. 
v. 15. Job xxxiii. 14—30. 4. All things, especially such as 
they most dislike, are made to work together for the good of 
the elect, and particularly of believers, Rom. viii. 28. 2 Cor. 
iv. 17. 1 Cor. iii. 22. 

III. The power of God is that essential perfection of his 
nature, by which he can do every thing not base or sinful. — It 
is no disparagement but honour to his power that he cannot do 
that which implies a contradiction in its very nature, — as to. 



108 OF THE NATUHE OR PERFECTIONS OF COD. 

satisfy an immortal soul with earthly portions, or make one 
under the reigning**power of sin relish spiritual delights ; — or 
that he cannot do that which is contrary to his own existence, 
—as to die, — become weak,. — sleep, &c. — or which is contrary 
to his moral perfections, — as to lie, — love sin, — deny himself; 
— or which is contrary to his own fixed purpose. — But it may 
be observed, that God's purpose doth not limit his power itself, 
but the exercise of it. His power ought therefore never to be 
distinguished into absolute and ordinate. His power itself 
cannot be bounded, and the exercise of it cannot be inordinate. 

That God is almighty, is evident, 1. From express decla- 
rations of Scripture, Gen. xvii. 1. xviii. 14. xlviii. 3. Deut. 
xxxii. 39. iii. 24. Job ix. 4, 10, 19. xxxvi. 5. xxxviii. 22, 
23. xli. 10. Psalm xlv. 3. lxviii. 34. lxxxix. 13.1xxii. 18. xxiv. 
8, 10. xcvi. 2 — 7. cxv. 3. xciii. 1. lxii. 11. Isa. ix. 6. xxvi. 4. 
xl. 28, 29. lxiii. 1. Jer. xxxii. 17. Mat. xix. 26. Luke i. 35, 
37, 49. Rom. i. 20. Eph. i. 19. iii. 20. Rev. i. 8. xix. 15. 
2. From that abundant power which he hath communicated to 
his creatures, luminaries, vegetables, brutes, men, and angels, 
Job xxxvi. — xli. Judges xv. xvi. 2 Sam. xxi. xxiii. 1 Chron. 
xi. xx. Psalm ciii. 20. 2 Thess. i. 7. 3. From the manifold 
and amazing displays of his power in his works of Creation, 
Providence, and Redemption. 

In creation, his almighty power appears, 1. In making all 
things of nothing, Heb. xi. 3. Gen. i. Col. i. 16. Rom. xi. 36. 
2. In forming such multitudes of creatures at once, Psalm 
xxxiii. 6. Col. i. 16. Gen. i. Psalm cxlviii. Exod. xx. 11. 3. In 
forming them of the sat^e nothing, or of unfit matter, in so 
many diversified forms, Gen.i. Psalm civ. cxlviii. 4. In form- 
ing them all with the greatest case, by his mere word, Psalm 
xxxiii. 6, 9. Gen i. ii. 7. Heb. xi. 3. 5. In making them all 
without any instrumental cause, Gen. i. Psalm xxxiii. 6, 9. 
Heb. xi. 3. 6. In forming them as instantaneously as his 
glory admitted, Psalm xxxiii. 6, 9. Gen. i. ii. 7. Exod. xx. 11. 

InPROViDExcE, his almighty power appears, 1. lh his pre- 
servation of all things in their different nature, forms, stations, 
motions, or rest, Psalm cxlviii. exxxfi. civ. cxix. 90. Col. i. 17; 
Rev. iv. 11. 2. In the propagation of vegetables in the ground, 
and especially of animals in the womb, or in eggs, or from 
pieces of dissected ones, — and by means of heatj moisture, &c. 
Psal. civ. cxlvii. cxlviii. exxxix. 14. Job x. 8 — 12. 3. In ex>- 
citing and producing all their motions or actions, Psalm cxlvii. 
15 — 18. civ; 10—14, 27, 30. exxxv, 7. exxxvi. 5—9. Job 
xxxviii. — xli. Dan. iii. 17. iv. I7.ii.21. Acts xvii. 28. Rom. xii. 
36. 4. In restraining unruly beasts, wicked men/ and devils, 
■at his pleasure, Psalm Ixv. 7. and lxxvi. 10. Prov. xxi. 1. Rev. 
xx. 2. 5. In changing men's dispositions and inclinations, &s 



OP THE NATUHE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 1QJ> 

he pleases, Gen. xxxiii. 4. xxxv. 5. 1 Sam. x. 9, 26. xxiv. 17, 
18. Esther vi. 1, 2. Psalm cv. 25. cvi. 45. 6. In making so 
manv millions of unruly inclinations harmoniously promote his 
one d> .-sign, notwithstanding all their own different or contrary 
ones, Kxod. ii. — xiv. Isa. x. 5 — 7. xxvii. 9. 7. In destroying his 
and his people's enemies, when they are at their strongest, and 
delivering his favourites when most weak and distressed, Deut. 
xxxii. 33, 35, 36, 41, 42, 43. Isa. xxxvii 6, 7, 35. xxxiii. 
10. xliii. 17, 18. and xiv. 13. Esther iii. — x. Exod. i. — xiv. 
xviii. 11. Ezek. xxxvii. 1 — 14. Mic. iv. 10. Dan. xii. 1. Rev. 
xi. 7 — 15. xx. 9. 8. In effecting the greatest events hy weak 
means, or by none at all, Isa. xli. 15, 16. 1 Kings xx. 14. 
Judges vi. 15. vii. 2 — 22. 2 Chron. xiv. 11. ; — or by means 
merelv casual. Thus the lighting of a viper on Paul's hand, 
brought about the conviction of the Maltese, Acts xxviii. 
3 — 10. Moses, the deliverer of the Israelites, was preserved 
from death and fitted for his work, by the daughter of their 
oppressor coming to wash herself in the Nile, Exod. ii. 11. A 
post, with tidings of an invasion, preserved David, the anointed 
king of Israel, from being murdered by Saul, 1 Sam. xxiii. 26. ; 
— Or by means calculated and intended for an opposite purpose 
by the agents. Thus Joseph's abasement promoted his exalta- 
tion to be lord over his father and brethren, Gen. xxxvii. — xlvii . 
The fall of mankind, the abasement and murder of Christ, 
promoted the eternal happiness of men, the honour of Christ, 
and the glory of God, Rom. v. 12 — 21. Phil. iii. 6 — 11. The 
building of Babel hastened the dispersion of mankind through 
the world, Gen. xi. 9. In the strangely diversified success of 
human affairs. Persons poor, weak, or inactive, perform things, 
which others of great wealth, parte, powers and activity, cannot, 
Psalm lxxviii. 71, 72. Amos v. 9. Acts i. — viii. 10. In mak- 
ing bad men befriend his people and his cause, contrary' to all 
the dictates of carnal policy. Thus Cyrus, Darius, Artaxerxes, 
&c. gave part of their wealth to rebuild the Jewish temple, or 
promote the worship at it, Ezra i. iv. v. vii. Neh. ii. In the 
days of Cicero, gold was carried from Rome to adorn it. 11 . In 
marvellously infatuating or defeating the best counsellors or 
counsels of men, Isa. xliv. 25. xxxiii. 11. 2 Sam. xvii. 8. Job 
v. 12, 13. Psalm xxxiii. 10. Isa. viii. 10. 12. In working such 
multitudes of miracles, both under the Old, and under the New 
Testament, Gen. vii. viii. »ix. 24. xxi. 1, 2. Exod. iii. — xx. 
Num. xi. xvi. xvii. Josh. iii. iv. v. x. Judges vi. 1 Kings xvii. 
xviii. 2 Kings i. — viii. xiii. xix. xx. Matth. ii. 2. iv. 24, 25. xi. 
5. xiv. xv. xvii. xx. xxi. Acts i. — xx. xxviii. Rom. xv. 19. Heb. 
ii. 4. 13. In raising the dead, and making all men and devils 
appear before his awful tribunal to receive their final sentence, 
Mat. xxv. 30 — 45. Rev. xx. 12, 14. 14. In the everlasting 



HO OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 

execution of his sentences, in punishing the wicked and glorify- 
ing the righteous, and in supporting both under their respective 
weights of wrath or blessedness, 2 Thess. i. 9, 10. 2 Cor. iv. 
17. 15. In the terrible conflagration and the glorious renova- 
tion of our lower world atthelast day, 2 Pet. iii. 10, 12. 
But the almighty power of God chiefly appears in his work 

of redemption, Eph. i. 19, 20 It appears on Christ the 

Redeemer, 1. In the miraculous conception of his manhood by 
a virgin, Isa. vii. 14. Jer. xxxi. 22. Luke i. 35. Mat. i. 20. 
2. In the more than miraculous union of his two natures, which 
are infinitely different in substance and dignity, — and yet in 
such manner, that all human personality was prevented, John 
i. 14. 1 Tim. iii. 16. Isa. ix. 6. Zech. xiii. 7. Rom. ix. 5. 3. In 
the miracles which he wrought, Acts x. 38. Mat. iv. — xxi. 
Mark i. — vi. Luke iv. — xx. John ii. — xi. 4. In the tremen- 
dous punishment inflicted on him, and in the full support of 
him under it, Zech. xiii. 7. iii. 9. Isa. liii. 4 — 10. 1. 6, 7, 9. xlii. 

I. Psalm xxii. lxix. Mat. xxvi. xvvii. 5. In enabling him to 
such patience and resignation under his sufferings, of which he 
had a perfectly quick sense, Isa. liii. 7. Heb. xii. 2, 3. John xviii. 
11, 12, 27. Mat. xxvi. 39, 42. 6. In raising him from the dead, 
justifying and glorifying him, Rom. i. 4. vi. 4. iv. 25. 1 Tim. iii. 
16. Eph.i. 19, 20,23. Psalm ex. 1 — 7. Phil. ii. 7 — 11. Heb.ii.8, 
9. 1 Pet. i. 20, 21. It appears in the Publication of Redemp- 
tion. 1. In the propagating doctrines so contrary to the carnal 
reason, the common customs, the deep-rooted lusts, and strongly 
supported laws of mankind, 1 Cor. i. 20 — 24. iii. 18. Tit. iii. 3. 
Rom. i. 21 — 32. iii. 10 — 18. 2. In propagating the gospel by 
so unfit-like instruments, that just before had manifested so 
much cowardice, ignorance, or wickedness, Mat. xxvi. Acts 
i. — ix. 3. In propagating it by simple declarations, enforced 
with no temporal authority or worldly influence, 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. 
Zech. iv. 6. 4. In the amazing spread and influence these 
declarations had on the hearts and lives of millions of ignorant, 
outrageous, and obstinate sinners, for convincing, converting, 
and sanctifying them, Acts ii. — xxi. xxvi. 17, 18. Rom. i. 8. 
xv. 19. 1 Cor. vi. 10, 11. Col. i. 5, 6. Eph. iii. 8, 9. 2 Cor. x. 
4, 5. 1 Thess. i. 5, 9. ii. 12, 13. Tit. iii. 3 — 7. It also ap- 
pears in the Application of our Redemption. 1. In the thorough 
conviction of the most stupid, hardened, and biassed consciences, 
John xvi. 9—11. Rom. iii. 19. .Heb. iv. 12. Psalm xlv. 5. 
2. In uniting men to Christ, and thus implanting in them a di- 
vine nature, or new habits or principles of grace, in opposition 
to the whole power of Satan, the world, and indwelling lusts, 
Deut. xxx. 6. Ezek. xxxvi. 26. Psalm c. 3. 2 Cor. x. 4,5. 
Luke viii. 24. xi. 21, 22. Eph. i. 19. 1 Thess. i. 5. 2 Thess. i. 

II. 3. In the preservation of weak graces in men's souls, 



OF THE VATUKE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. Ill 

amidst an infinity of corruptions and temptations to sin, 1 Pet. 
i. 5. Jude 1. 4. In pardoning such multitud'.-s of heinous of- 
fences, at, and after our union to Christ ; and in applying these 
pardons with such almighty influence as to quiet our conscien- 
ces, however fearfully awakened, Num. xi v. 17. — 19. Isa. xliii. 
24, 25. xliv. 22. xlv. 22, 24, 25. lvii. 18, 19. 5. In the mor- 
tification of almost almighty corruption by his word, and the 
agency of his Spirit, Rom. viii. 13. Gal. v. 17, 24, 6. In the 
miraculous exploits which his people have, or do perform 
through faith, Phil. iv. 13. Col. i. 10, 11, 28, 29. Gal. i. 16. 
ii. 20. 2 Cor. xii. 7 — 9. Heb. xi. Mat. xvii. 20. Mark ix. 25. 
7. In conferring abundant comfort, and everlasting happiness 
upon all his people, notwithstanding all that sin, Satan, and the 
world can do to distress and ruin them, Isa. lxv. 18. Psalm li. 
10, 11. Rom. viii. 15 — 18, 28 — 39. 2 Cor. iv. 17. Psalm 
xxxi. 19. lxxiii. 23 — 26. Isa. xxxv. 10. xlv. 17. Ix. 19, 20. 

IV. Not only hath God an almighty power of ability, but 
also a power of unbounded sovereignty, — by which, as one 
free from all obligation of law or force, of motive or influence 
without himself, he may form, support, and govern his crea- 
tures in what manner he pleaseth, Dan. iv. 34, 35. — His sove^ 
reign dominion over his creatures is founded on the infinite dig- 
nity and excellency of his nature, Psalm lxxxvi. 8. lxxxix. 6 — 8. 
and on his being the Contriver, Creator, Preserver, and last 
end of them, Psalm xcv. 3, 5. Isa. i. 2, 3. xliii. 12. 1 Cor. vi. 
19, 20. Prov. xvi. 4. Rom. xi. 36. — It extends over all crea- 
tures, 1 Tim. i. 17. vi. 15. Whether in heaven, Isa. xlv. 12. 
Psalm ciii. 19, 20. cxlviii. 1 — 4. Or in earth, Job xii. 15, 18. 
Psalm xlvii. 7> — 9. xxiv. 1.1. 10. Prov. xxi. 1. Hag. ii. 8. Dan. 
iv. 35. Psalm civ.— cvi. cxlvii. cxlviii. Or in hell, Psalm 
lxxviii. 49. 1 Kings xxii. 22. Luke xxii. 31. Rev. xx. 2, 7. 

It is evident, that God hath an absolute sovereignty over all 
things. 1. From express declarations of Scripture, Exod. xxxiii. 
10. Rom. ix. 16, 18 — 23. Math. xx. 15. Psalm xcv. 3,4. xcvi. 
6. cxv. 3. exxxv. 6. lxxv. 6, 7. xxii. 28, 29. Job xxv. 2. Dan. iv. 
34, 35, 36, 37. ii. 21. Eph. i. 11. Acts xvii. 24, 26. 2. From 
th: characters ascribed to him in Scripture, as Lord of hosts; 
King of nations; King ofthezvhole earth; Only Potentate; King 
of kings; Lord of lords; Most High, &c. Psal. lxxxiv. 12. Ixxx. 
4, 14, 19. xlvii. 7. Jer. x. 7—10. 1 Tim. vi. 15. Rev. xvii. 14. 
xix. 16. Exod. xviii. 11. Deut. x. 17. Gen. xiv. 18—22. Psal. 
1. 14. lvi. 2. lxxxiii. 18. 3. All the liberty, property, or au- 
thority, which creatures have, with respect to themselves or 
others, is derived from God, Acts xvii. 28. Prov. viii. 15, 16. 
Psal. lxxxii. Rom. xiii. 1 — 6. 1 Cor. iv. 7. Rom. xi. 36. 4. His 
sovereignty is displayed in his works of creation, providence, 



112 OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 

and redemption. — In creation, it appears in his forming such 
diversified creatures of the same nothing or of the same unfit 
matter, and with so many and diversified connections among 

themselves, Gen. i. In providence it appears, 1. In the 

diversified degree and duration of that support which he aff. >rds 
to his creatures. 2. In the forms, extent, and continuance, of 
his positive laws, and their binding influence on men's con- 
sciences. 3. In the manner, time, place, or objects, to whom 
his laws are published ; or of the writing of them on men's 
hearts ; — and in the, at first, unperceived exceptions of his law, 
as in Abraham's offering up his son, or in a man's marrying 
the childless widow of his brother. 4. In the objects, instru- 
ments, forms, degrees, and seasons of his favour. 5. In the na- 
ture, seasons, degrees, instruments, and objects, of his correc- 
tions and punishments,— -and their proportion to, and corres- 
pondence with the sins, on account of which they are inflicted, 
Dan. iv. 35. Psal. cxv. 3. cxxxv. 6. Matth. xi 25, 26. xx. 15. 
— In redemption, — it is manifested, 1. On the Redeemer, — 
in God's calling him to be our surety to pay our debt ; — and to 
be our spiritual Head ; — in fixing the time of his payment, — 
the place of his birth, life, and death,— the parts, forms, de- 
grees, and continuance of his sufferings, and the forms, degrees, 
and periods of his exaltation in his own person, or in the happi- 
ness of his people, Isa. xliii. 6. Luke xi. 13. xiii. 32, 33. John 
xviii. 11. Heb. ii. 10. Phil. ii. 7 — 11. 2. On the persons of 
the redeemed, — in choosing any at all ; — in choosing some, while 
others, no worse, are passed by ; — and in alloting to them such 
particular means, opportunities, seasons, forms, and degrees of 
gifts and grace ; and such intermixed temptations, troubles, de- 
liverances, and comforts, Matth. xi.' 25, 26. Rom. ix. 18, 23. 
Exod. xxxiii. 19. Matth. xx. 1, 15. 1 Cor. i. 26 — 30. 3. In 
qualifying such particular persons, of those that remain unre- 
generate, and at such particular seasons, with such individual 
forms and measures of gifts, and common graces, to render 
them useful in promoting the honour of the Redeemer, and the 
conversion and edification of his redeemed, John vi. 70. Heb. 
vi. 4, 5. Num. xxiii. xxiv. 

V. The holiness of God is that essential perfection of his 
nature, which lies in perfect freedom from, and hatred of all «in, 

and in perfect love to every thing holy and pure. That God 

is infinitely holy appears, 1. From express declarations of Scrip- 
ture, Josh. xxiv. 19. 1 Sam. ii. 2. Exod. xv. 11. Psal. lxxxix. 
35. xi. 7. xcix. 9. Prov. xxx. 3. Hab. i. 12, 13. Isa. vi. 3. Rev. 
iv. 8. John xvii. 11. Dan. ix. 24. Psal. xvi. 10. Acts iii. 14. 
Rom. i. 4. Luke i. 35. Nay, holiness is represented as his beau- 
ty, Exod. xv. 11. Psal. xxvii. 4. his grandeur, Psal. lxxxix. 35. 

4 



uF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. U£ 

Amos iv. 2. and more than forty times he is called the Holy 
One of Israel or Jacob, Hab. iii. 3. i. 12. Isa. i. 4, 10,20. xliii. 
14. xxix. 23, &c. 2. Every thing relating to God is called 
holy, on account of its connexion with and conformity to 
him ; — as the manhood of his Son, Luke i. 35. Acts iv. 27, 30. ; 
— his name, Psal. cxi. 9. Lev. xx. 3. ; — his arm or power, Psal. 
xcviii. 1. ; — the place where he manifcstsjhimself, — heaven orthe 
temple, Psal. xx. 6. Isa. lvii. 15. Jonah ii. 4. Psal.xcix. 9. Exod. 
iii. 4. Rev.xxi. 10. ; — his Sabbaths, Exod. xvi. 23. Isa.lviii. 13.; 
— his covenant and promise, Dan. xi. 28, 30. Luke i. 72. Psal. 
cv. 42. ; — his word, law, and gospel, Rom. i. 2. vii. 12. 2 Tim. 
iii. 15. ; — his work, Psal. cxlv. 17. ; — his angels, Rev. xiv. 10. 
Matth. xxv. 31. ; — his prophets, 2 Pet. i, 21. iii. 2. Luke i % 70. 
Rev.xviii. 20.xxii.6. ; — his ministers, lThess.ii. 10. Rev.xviii. 
20. ; — his people, Exod. xix. 6. Col. i. 22. iii. 12. Heb. iii. 1. 
1 Thess. v. 27. 1 Pet. ii. 9. 3. His holiness is manifested in 
his works of creation, providence, and redemption, Psal. cxlv. 7. 
In creation it appears, in forming every creature, which 
was capable of holiness, perfect in it, Gen. i. 20, 27. Rev. xiv. 
10. with Jude 6. — In providence, it appears, 1. In giving to 
all his rational creatures a moral law, requiring the most perfect 
and uninterrupted holiness of heart and life, — and enforced with 
die most powerful sanction of rewards and punishments, Rom. 
vii. 12. Matth. xxii. 37, 39. Rom. xii. xiii. Col. iii. iv. Eph. iv. 
v. vi. 1 Thess. iv. v. 1 Pet. 1 — 5. Exod. xx. 3 — 17. 2. In 
prescribing the most proper means of promoting holiness, Gen. 
ii. 17. Tit. ii. 11, 12. Matth. xxviii. 19. 2 Cor. xi. 23 — 29. 
Even all the sacrifices, purifications, and punishments, pre- 
scribed by the Jewish laws, marked the holiness of God, Lev. 
i. — xxiii. Num. v. vi. xv. xix. xxviii. xxix. Lev. x. 1 — 3. 
3. And so permitting sin as not to have any active hand in, or 
give any encouragement to it, Hab. i. 12, 13. Psal. iv. 5, 6. 
Jer. xliv. 4. Prov. xvi. 16 — 19. 4. In fixing standing marks 
of his detestation of sin upon the first introducers of it, or any 
particular form of it ; as on devils, women, Cain, the old world, 
the builders of Babel, Sodomites, oppressors of the church, pro- 
faners of God's worship, presumptuous rebels against his esta- 
blished government, despisers of his promised favours, &c. Jude 
6. 2 Pet. ii. 4, 5. Gen. iii. iv. vii. xi. xix. Exod. i. — xiv. Lev. x. 
Num. xiv. xvi. Isa. v. 16. 5. In publickly manifesting his de- 
testation of men on account of their most secret sins, Psal. 1.21. 
x. 8. 11,14. Ezek.xiv.3 — 8. viii. 7 — 18. 2 Sam. xii. 11, 12. Jer. 
xvi. 17, 18. 6. In marking all the wicked with the most 
shameful distance and disgrace in the last judgment, 1 Thess. , 
iv. 16, 17. Matth. xxv. 33. Psal. i. 5. exxxviii. 6. 7. In his 
everlasting exch n of unholy angels and men from his pre- 
ence, and marking them with the most tremendous tokens of 

*S 



114 OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 

his detestation, Matth. xxv. 41, 46. Psal. ix. 17. Rev. xx. 10, 
15. xiv. 10, 11.2 Thess. i. 8, 9. Even these providential acts, 
which we are apt to imagine impure, are perfectly holy. He 
tempts men, merely by trying their obedience, or in permitting ' 
them to be enticed to sin, by Satan, evil men, or their own sin- 
ful lusts, 2 Sam. xxv. 1. Matth. vi. 12. James i. 13, 14. He 
bids men curse, merely by giving them an opportunity of doing 
it, 2 Sam. xvi. 12. He hardens men in sin, when he justly 
withholds his heart-softening grace, and permits Satan, their 
neighbours, or their own lusts, to render them more stupid, 
perverse, and obstinate, Exod. iv. — xiv. Isa. lxiii. 17. vi. 9, 10. 
He delivers men up to vile affections, a reprobate mind, or 
strojtg delusions, or to their own lusts, when he justly withholds 
his restraining or sanctifying influences, and permits their sin- 
ful corruptions to decoy or drag them into wickedness, errour, 
and folly, Rom. i. 24—28. 2 Thess. ii. 9 — 11. Isa. lxvi. 4. Psal. 
lxxxi. 12. His deceiving of men imports his abandoning them 
to the temptations of Satan and their own deceitful heart, Jer. 
iv. 10. Ezek. xiv. 9. 1 Kings xxii. 19 — 22. — Thus, in all these, 
he wisely, holily, and justly renders sin its own punishment. 
■ ■ In redemption, the holiness of God appears, I. In his 
choosing men, that they might be holy, Eph. i. 4. 2 Thess. ii. 
13. 1 Pet. i. 2. ii. 9. 2. In exhibiting his own Son, in the 
likeness of sinful flesh, even under the curse, which is the 
strength of sin, and amidst infinite temptations, as an incompa- 
rably perfect and glorious pattern of holiness in heart and life, 
Luke i. 35. Matth. iii. 15. John viii. 29. xvii. 4. xviii. 11. 
Heb. v. 8. vii. 26.3. In punishing, even without mercy, upon , 
his own Son, sin imputed, withdrawing his comfortable smiles 
from him, and shutting out his prayers as if he had been a real 
sinner, Matth. xxvi. xxvii. Psal. xxii. lxix. lxxxix. 38. Isa. liii. 
Rom. viii. 3,32. Heb. ii. 10. 4. In giving Christ to purchase 
holiness for men, and making him to them, wisdom, righteous- 
ness, sanctijication, and redemption, Tit. ii. 14. 1 Pet. i. 18, 
19. 1 Cor. i. 30. 5. In so forming the gospel in all its decla- 
rations, promises, and invitations, as may best convey, and en- 
courage us to holiness in heart and life, 1 Tim. vi. 3. iii. 16. 
2 Pet. i. 4. Tit. ii. 11, 12. 2 Cor. vii. 1. John xv. 3. xvii. 17. 
Luke i. 74, 75. Psal. cxix. 9, 11, 26. 6. In so framing the 
whole scheme of our redemption, that holiness of our heart 
and life is the end of every thing in it, Eph. i. 3, 4. Heb. xiii. 
12. ix. 14. 1 Cor. vi. 11. Tit. ii. 14. Hi. 8, 14. Ezek. xxxvi. 
25 — 27. Luke i. 74, 75. 1 Thess. iv. 3, 7. v. 23. Rom. vi. 14. 
vii. 4, 5, 6. Eph. iv. 11 — 13. Isa. xxvii. 9. Heb. xii. 10, 11. 
2 Cor. iii. 18. 1 John iii. 2. 7. In effectually rendering men 
holy by the manifestations of his own holiness in the gospel, 
2 Cor. iii. 18. iv. 4, 6. 8. In the sharp correction of his pccu-> 
liar favourites for their unholiness, and even for sins which. 






OF THE NATURE- OR PERFECTIONS OF OOD. 1U 

appear far less criminal than some others, Amos iii. 2. Rev. iii. 
19. Heb. xii. 6 — 11. Psalm xcix. 8. cxix. 67, 71. lxxxix. 31 — 
34. lxxiii. lxxvii. lxxxviii. 1 Sam. ii. iii. Num. xii. xx. 12. 
Deut. xxxii. 51. 9. In making perfect holines a principal in- 
gredient of our eternal happiness, Eph. v. 25 — 27. 1 John iii. 3. 
Jude 25. 

VI. The justice of God is that essential property of his 
nature, which disposes him to render to himself, and to all his 

creatures, that which is right and equal.. It is evident that 

God is just or righteous : 1. The Scriptures expressly de- 
clare this, Psal. xi. 7. xxv. 8. vii. 9. ix. 8. xcii. 15. xcix. 4. cxix. 
75, 137. Exod. ix. 27. xxxiv. 7. Gen. xviii. 25. Deut. x. 17, 
xxxii. 4. Jude i. 7. 1 Sam. iii. 18. 2 Chron. xix. 7. Job viii. 3. 
ix. 15. xxxiv. 10 — 12, 19. xxxv. 6 — 8. xxvi. 3. xxxvii. 23. 
Jer. xii. 1. Isa. xxvi. 7. Dan. ix. 16. 2 Thess. i. 6, 7. 2 Tim. 
iv. 8. Heb. vi. 10. Acts x. 33, 34. Rom. iii. 4, 26. ix. 13, 14. 
2. The remains of equity among men proceed from, and are 
beloved by God, 2 Sam. xxii. 26 — 28. Psalm vii. 9. xi. 7. 
Hos. xiv. 9. Gen. xviii. 23, 25. 3. His infinite justice and 
equity appear, 1 . In his giving the most righteous laws to his 
creatures, suited to their original abilities, and requiring the 
most perfect equity towards God, their neighbours, and them- 
selves, — insisting chiefly on the principal points of equity ; and 
that such as bear rule over others, should shew themselves dis- 
tinguished patterns of it, Neh. ix. 13. Rom. vii. 12. Psal. cxix. 
75, 137, 138, 142. xix. 8 — 11. Hos. xiv. 9. Isa. xxvi. 7. Matth. 
xxiii. 23. xxii. 37, 39. Deut. xvi. 18, 19. 2 Sam. xxiii. 3. 
2 Chron. xix. 6, 9. Psal. lxxxii. 2. In annexing to those laws 
proper sanctions of rewards and punishments, Psal. xi. 5 — 7. 
vii. 9 — 14. ix. 8, 17. Isa. i. 19, 20. iii. 10, 11. Rom. ii. 6—10. 
2 Thess. i. 6 — 10. 3. In rewarding mens good behaviour in 
the most proper time, manner, and degree, Psal. xix. 11.1 Cor. 
xv. 58. Rev. xiv. 13. 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. — In his rewarding the 
resemblances of good works performed by wicked men, 1 Kings 
xxi. 29. 2 Kings x. 30. Jon. iii. — In rewarding the imperfect 
graces and works of his people, Rev. i. 3. ii. 7, 11, 19, 26, 27, 
iii. 5, 12,20, 22. xiv. 13. xxii. 14. Col. iii. 24, 25. 1 Cor. xv. 
58. ix. 24, 25. 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. Matth. v. 3 — 10. — and in largely 
rewarding the meritorious service of Christ as our Surety, 
Isa. xlix. 5,6. I'm. 10 — 12. Phil. ii. 7 — 11. Heb. ii. 8, 9, 10. 
xii. 2. John xvii. 4, 5. Psal. xxii. 27, 31. 4. In bestowing all 
the purchased blessings of the new covenant upon the most vile, 
guilty, and rebellious men, on account of that righteousness 
which Christ, their Surety, performed in their stead, Rom. iii. 
24—26. iv. 25. v. 6—11, 15 — 21. viii. 1—4, 33, 34. 2 Cor. 
V. 14—21. 1 Thess. v, 9, 10. Eph. i. 3—8. ii. 1—8, 14. 1 Pet, 



115 OF THE NATURE OR PERFCTIONS OF GOD. 

i. 18—21. ii. 24. iii. 18. Heb. ix. 12, 14, 15. x. 10, 14. 1 John 
i. 7, 9. ii. 1, 2. iv. 9, 10. Rev. i. 5, 6. v. 9, 10. 2 Tim. iv. 8. 
5. In his seasonable, severe, and well-proportioned chastise- 
ments of his people, which, as disagreeable, are due to them for 
offending their gracious Father, — and as calculated to promote 
their sanctification and comfort, are due to them as represented 
by their law -fulfilling Surety, Christ, Job xxxvi. 7 — 10. Psal. 
lxxxix. 30 — 34.xcix. 8. xciv.12. Prov. iii. 12. Heb.xii. 6 — 11. 
Rev. iii. 19. 6. In afflicting innocent animals, only in so far 
as the}- are connected with guilty sinners. And, who knows 
how far their present suffering may be balanced in their future 
restoration into the glorious liberty of the children of God ? 
Isa. xxiv. Hos. iv. 2, 3. Jer. xii.4. xiv. 5, 6. Job i. 16. with 
Rom. viii. 20 — 23. 2 Pet. iii. 13. 7. In infallibly punishing 
national sins with national judgments in this world, as there is 
no opportunity of punishing societies, as such, in the future 
state; — and in marking their sins in their punishments, — as 
in the case of the old world, — Sodomites, Egyptians, Assy- 
rians, Chaldeans, Jews, Papists, &c. Gen. vi. vii. xix. Exod. 
i. — xiv. Isa. xxxiii. xxxvii. Jer. xxv. xlvi. — li. Judg. i. — xii. 
2 Kings xvii. xxv. Matth. xxiii. 32 — 39. xxiv. Rev. vi. — xx. 
8. In punishing wicked men in this life, in a form, though not 
in a degree proportioned to their sins, and often by permitting 
them to fall into other sins, Job xviii. xx. xxvii. Psal. xcii. 
7. xxxvii. 20. xxxv. 26. vii. 10 — 16. lviii. 9, 10. Ezek. xviii. 
Psal. lxxiii. 18 — 20. xxxi. 12. Gen. iv. ix. 25. Isa. lxvi. 4. lxiii. 
17. Hos.iv. 13— 17. 2Thess. ii. 9— 11. Rom. i. 18—32. 9. In 
publickly condemning wicked angels and men, and punishing 
them in hell for ever, Matth. xxv. 41, 46. 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. Rev. 
xiv. 9, 10, 11. xx. 10, 12. 10. Especially in exacting from his 
onlv and infinitely beloved Son, as our Surety, the very same 
obedience and satisfaction which were due from us to his 
broken law, — in the very same nature which had sinned, and 
under the very same overwhelming curse, Mat. iii. 15. Luke 
xxiv. 26. Isa. liii. Psal. xxii. lxix. Matth. xxvi. xxvii. Rom. 
iii. 24 — 26. v. 6—10. viii. 3, 32. Isa. xlii. 21. Heb. ii. 10. v. 8. 
2 Cor. v. 21. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. ii. 24. iii. IS. Gal. iii. 13. Phil, 
ii. 7, 8. _ 

Such is the infinite holiness and justice of God's nature-, that 
he cannot suffer sin to pass without adequate punishment. 
1. The Scripture represents him as so infinitely holv and just, 
that he cannot but hate and detest sin, and mark his abhorrence 
of it, Exod. xxxiv. 7. Hab. i. 12, 13. Psal. v. 4 — 6. xi. 5,6, 7. 
ix. 5. 1. 21. Jer. xliv. 4. Neh. i. 2, 3. Prov. vi. 16—19. xvi. 5. 
Zech. xi. 8 ; — and as a Governour and Judge, who cannot but 
maintain the honour of that law which sinners trample on, and 
do right to his innocent creatures, which are hurt by their 



OP THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 117 

wickedness, Isa. xlii. 21. 2Thess.i. 6—8. Kom.i. 18, 32. ii. 2, 
6 — 10. Gen. xviii. 25. 2. Men's consciences represent him thus 
holy and just ; and hence accuse and torment them when they 
offend him, and push them to appease him by sacrifices, ser- 
vices, ike. Acts xxviii. 4. Horn. i. 32. ii. 14, 15. 3. The law of 
God manifests this truth. Most of his moral precepts de- 
pending on his very nature and indispensable prerogative of go- 
vernment, must, to the violations of them, have an adequate 
sanction annexed ; as otherwise, haters and blasphemers of God 
would appear as much beloved by him, as the most pious and 
virtuous persons, contrary to Rom. ii. 7 — 10. Isa. iii. 10, 11. 
i. 19, 20 All the ceremonial laws manifested, that without sa- 
tisfaction to God's justice^ there could be no remission of sin, 
Heb. ix. 22. And, if God's nature had not required an ade- 
quate punishment, the ceremonial offerings might have made 
atonement for sin, contrary to Heb. x. 3, 4. 4. If God's holi- 
ness and justice did not necessarilv require him to punish sin in 
an adequate manner, how could his infinite mercy and goodness 
admit any punishment of it, as without real necessity, all pu- 
nishment is an approach towards wanton cruelty ? 5. If it had 
not been necessary to the honourable egress of his mercy towards 
sinful men, how could God have so fearfully punished his holy, 
his only begotten, and infinitely beloved Son ? Or how could 
there be such distinguishing love, in giving him for a propitia- 
tion for our sins, — as the Scripture represents, Luke xxiv. 26. 
Rom. iii. 25, 26. 2 Cor. v. 21. Gal. iii. 13. Tit. ii. 14. Heb. 
ii. 10. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. ii. 24. iii. 18. John iii. 16. Rom. v. 
6 — 10. viii. 32. 1 John iv. 9, 10. Eph. v. 2. Gal. ii. 20. Rev i. 5. 
To anticipate Objections, it may be observed, 1. That 
God's mercy and justice are not contrary perfections, though 
the one cannot be exercised to the dishonour of the other. 

2. That the effects of God's mercy and grace, being absolutely 
free and gratuitous, may be restrained, if he please ; but the 
effects of his justice being a debt due to the honour of his na- 
ture and law, or the general welfare of his creatures, cannot be 
justly restrained, Gen. xviii. 25. Deut. xxxii. 4. Psal. xi. 
5 — 7. cxix. 137. Dan. ix. 16. 2 Thess. i. 6 — 9. Isa. v. 10. 

3. Though God's sovereign will regulate the circumstances of 
deserved punishment, the punishment itself is necessary. Ma- 
gistrates may, by their own will, regulate the time, place, and 
manner of executing a murderer, but cannot, without flagrant 
injustice to their character, their laws, or their country, dismiss 
him unpunished. 4. Though God may delay the full punish- 
ment of sinners, — the longer he does so, it must be the more 
dreadful when it comes, Rom. ii. 4, 5. ix. 22. Heb. x. 
26 — 31. 5. God's substitution of his own Son to bear the pu- 
nishment due to his elect, instead of proving, that he could 



118 OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOI>. 

have dispensed with it, strongly proves the contrary, Rom. iii. 
25,26. 2 Cor. v. 21. Gal. iii. 13, 14. Heb. ii. 10. Luke xxiv. 26. 

VII. The goodness of God is that essential property of his 
nature, which inclines him to regard and delight in himself, 
and to deal kindly with his creatures. — As it inclines him to 
affect, esteem, and delight in himself, or one divine person in 
another, — and to care for, to promote the welfare of creatures, 
and delight in and rejoice over them, it is called love, because 
love to himself and to his creatures, gives rise to, and animates 
his whole conduct, particularly his work of redemption, 1 John 
iv. 8, 9, 10, 16, 19. Rom. v. 8. John iii. 16. — His love, in re- 
spect of the objects of it, may be distinguished into that which 
he bears to himself, Isa. v. 16. Lev. x. 3. Mat. xi. 27. Johni. 
18. iii. 35. ; that which he bears to all his creatures as such. 
Psalm civ. 31. Gen. i. 31. and that redeeming love which he 
bears to his chosen of mankind, Deut. vii. 7, 8. xxxiii. 3. John 
iii. 16. xv. 9 — 15. xvi. 27. xvii. 23, 26. Rom. v. 8, 21. viii. 32. 
Gal. ii. 20. Eph. i. 3—8. ii. 1—9. iv. 8, 9, 10, 19. Rev. i. 5. 
. — His love to creatures is distinguished into his love willing 
their welfare, Rom. ix. 16, 18. Exod. xxxiii. 19. Psalm, lxxxvi. 
15. his love doing them good, John iii. 16. Rom. viii. 32 — 39. 
Psalm v. 12. Isa. Jxiii. 7. lix. 8 — 10. Eph. v. 2. 1 John iii. 1. 
iv. 9, 10. and his love delighting in them, Psalm cxlvii. 11. 
cxlix. 4. xxxv. 27. Isa. lxii. 5. Zeph. iii. 17. These are but 

the same love exercising itself in different forms. God's 

goodness, as it inclines him to make or supply his creatures, to 
none of which he owes either being or any thing else, is called 
bounty, Psal. cxvi. 7. cxix. 17. 1 Kings iii. 6. — As it inclines 
him to do good to those that are undeserving or ill-deserving, 
it is called grace, or free favour, Rom. iii. 24. v. 20, 21. Eph. 
ii. 5, 7, 8.i. 6,7. 2 Cor. 8,9. Psalm v. 12. As it inclines him 
to pity, help, and provide for, persons in misery, it is called 
mercy or compassion, Psalm cii. 8, 11 — 17. lxxxvi. 5. 15. 
Ixxxix. 1, 2, 28. cxi. 4. cxii. 4. Rom. ix. 16, 18. — And as he 
takes peculiar pleasuse in thus manifesting his goodness, in the 
redemption of men, mercy is attributed to him several hundred 
times in Scripture, Psalm cxxxvi. c. &c. he hathbowels ascribed 
to him, Isa. lxiii. 7, 15. Jer. xxxi. 20. Hos. xi. 8. and is re- 
presented as full of compassion. Psalm lxxviii. 38. lxxxv. 15. 
cxi. 4. cxii. 4. cxlv. 8. — And, as his goodness inclines him to 
forbear for a time, punishing the affronts done him, it is called 
patience and long-suffering, Rom. ii. 4. ix. 22. xv. 7. 
2 Pet. iii. 9, 15. Exod. xxxiv. 6. Psal. lxxxvi. 15. 

It is most evident, that God is good. 1. The Scriptures in 
passages innumerable represent him as good, — as only good, — 
as kind, — gracious, merciful, and long-suffering, Psalm xxv. 8-. 






OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 119 

xxxvi. 7. cxix. 68. cxlv. 7 — 9. Mat. xix. 17. Isa. lxiii. 7. Zech. 
ix. 17. Psalm xxxiii. 15. cvii. cxxxvi. xxxiv. 8. cxliv. 2. 'xiii. 
3 — 6. xl. 11. lxix. 16. Joel ii. 12, 13. Jer. iii. 13. Eph. li. 5, 
7. i. 6, 7, 8. Mic. vii. 18, 19, 20. Neh. ix. 17. 2 Pet. iii. 9, 15. 
Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. 2. All that goodness which is to be found 
among ci'eatures, animate or inanimate, rational or irrational, 
originates from God, Rom. xi. 36. Psalm cxix. 68. James i. 
17. 1 Cor. iv. 7. Gen. i. ii. 3. The goodness of God, is most 
extensively and clearly manifested in his works of creation, 
providence, and redemption. 

In creation it appears, 1. In his forming all creatures ha 
order that they might share of his kindness and bounty, — he 
having no need either of their existence or service, Psalm xvi. 
2. 2. In forming such vast multitudes of creatures, — in such 
diversified qualities, situations, orders, connexions, and mutual 
dependencies, that the goodness of all might contribute to the 
advantage of each, Gen. i. 3. In creating angels so many in 
number, so high in dignity, so excellent in quality, and so ca- 
pable of enjoying himself, Psalm civ. 4. ciii. 20, 21. 4. In 
forming man — his body so beautiful, so marvellously compact- 
ed of a multitude of members, and fitted to promote his true 
happiness, — his soul endowed with so many excellent faculties, 
qualifying it for the enjoyment of God himself,as his chiefgood, 
and marvellously united to his body, that he might at once par- 
take of an earthly and an heavenly felicity, Gen. ii. 6, 7. and 
that, by a particular consultation of the divine persons, he was 
formed in the image of God, Gen. i. 26, 27. ix. 6. and that his 
formation was so timed as to come into a world fully fitted and 
furnished for his immediate happiness, Gen. i. and ii. 

In providence, God's goodness appears, 1. In his uphold- 
ing innumerable numbers of creatures in order to render them 
partakers of his favours, Psalm xxxvi. 6, 7. Zech. ix. 17. Psalm 
civ. cvii. cxlv. cxlviii. 2. In governing them all, to the best 
advantage of all in general, Psalm cxix. 68. civ. cv. cvii. 
cxxxvi. cxlv. cxlvii. cxlviii. Job xxxvii. xli. 3. In so dis- 
tributing his goodness among them, that they may all depend 
on, and taste it, in each other ; and even worms may teach an- 
gels and men the mysteries of the Godhead, Job xii. 8, 9. 

4. In his peculiarly kind deportment towards angels and men, 
while they kepttheir first estate, — giving them good laws, suited 
to their natures, and conducive to their happiness ; in entering 
into a covenant of friendship with men ; if not also with angels, 
though not by a representative, Job xxxviii. 7. Gen. ii. 16, 17. 

5. In permitting sin to enter into the world, chiefly, that it 
might afford an occasion of opening his infinite treasures of re- 
deeming love and grace, Rom. v. 8, 20, 21. Eph. ii. 1 — 8. i. 
6 — 8. Gen. iii. 6. In his amazing patience toward sinful men, 
— in not smiting and even damning them in the very act of sin- 



120 OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 

ning, but deferring his vengeance as long as the vindication" of 
his own perfections and good of his creatures in general can 
permit, Gen. vi. 3. xv. 13, 16. Rom. ix. 22. — In repeating his 
warnings, before he punish or correct, Lev. xxvi. Deut. 
xxvii. — xxxii. Judges ii. 2 Kings xvii. Psalm lxxviii. cvi. Isa. 
i. Ezek. xx. Mai. iv. Mat. xxiv. Rev. viii. — xx. Sec. — In in- 
flicting his judgments by progressive degrees, and with an ap- 
parent reluctancy, Isa. ix. x. Ezek. xx. Amos iii. iv.vi.Ezra 
ix. 7. Joel i. 3. Judges x. 16. Isa. i. 24. Lam. iii. 33. Hos. vi. 
4, 5. xi. 8. Psalm lxxviii. 38. — And in moderating his judg- 
ments, loading men with his favours, notwithstanding many 
and great provocations, Psalm ciii. 10. Ezra. ix. 13. Job xi. 6. 
xxxiii. 27. Isa. lvii. 17 — 19. xliii. 24, 25. Lam. iii. 22, 31, 32. 
Mat. xxvi. xxvii. with Acts ii. — ix. Tit. iii. 3 — 7. 7. In work- 
ing an infinity of wonderful and miraculous works for the wel- 
fare of persons and nations, Exod. ii. — xx. Deut. xxxii. 6. 
Ezek. xx. Neh. ix. Ezra i. — x. Esther i. — x. Mat. i. — xxviii. 
Lukei. — xxiv. Johni. — xxi. Actsi. — xxviii. Rom.xv. 19. Heb. 
ii. 4. — — The histories or predictions of Scripture are full of 
them. 8. In his wonderful care of our world, notwithstanding 
its present defilement with sin, — as of irrational creatures, 
Psalm cxlv. 9. cxlvii. 8, 9. civ. 11 — 22. Deut. xxii. 7. xxv. 4. 
Lev. xxii. 28. — of slaves, Exod. xxi. 2 — 10, 27. Deut. xxiii. 
15. — of criminals, Deut. xxi. 22, 23. xxv. 1 — 3. — of the poor, 
of widows, and fatherless children, Exod. xxiii. 11. Lev. xix. 
13, 33, 34. xxv. 35, 39, 47. .Psalm ix. 18. x. 14,18. xii. 5. 
xxxv. 11. xli. 1 — 3. lxviii. 5, 10. lxxxii. 3. lxix. 33. Ixxii. 4, 
13. cvii.41. cix. 31. exxxii. 15. cxlvi. 9. Exod. xxii. 22. Deut. 
xiv. 29. x. 18. xvi. 11, 14. xxiv. 17, 19 — 21. xxvi. 12, 13. 
Prov. xv. 25. xix. 17. xxiii. 11, 18. Isa. i. 17, 23. Jer. vii. 6. 
Zech. vii. 10. Jer. xlix. 11. Hos. xiv. 3. James i. 27. — of wick- 
ed men, Mat. v. 45. Ezek. xx. Acts xiv. 16, 17. Jon. iii. 
iv. 11. 1 Kings xxi. 29. Ezek. xxix. 18 — 20. — of societies, in 
dictating or suggesting proper rules of government to them, 
putting part of his own honour and authority on their magis- 
trates for their benefit, Psalm cvii. 31, 32. Jer. xviii. 9. Rom. 
xiii. 1—6. 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2. Tit. iii. 1. 1 Pet ii. 13, 14, 17. 
Psalm lxxxii. 9. In so timing his favours, particularly deli- 
verances, that they become doubly valuable. — Delays of them 
till we be brought to an extremity, afford us opportunities of 
acting faith, and encouraging ourselves in him alone, John xi. 
15 — 44. 2 Chron. xx. 7, 12. Psal. xlii. xliii. — and granting 
them in the very crisis of extremity, stirs us up to improve our 
new covenant interest in him, Psalm exxiii. 3. xliv. 23 — 26. 
Exod. xv. 1, 2. Psal. ciii. cxvi. cxviii. xl.xiii. xviii. — Earthly 
comforts are cut off, to prepare us for his intended spiritual fa- 
vours, Psalm cii. 23, 24. cxlii. 4,5. — And remarkable deliver- 



OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 1£1 

unees afforded to prevent future calamities. Thus, the destruc- 
tion of the Egyptians, and Israel's deliverance at the* Red Sea, 
made the hearts of the Canaanites to melt, Josh. ix. 9, 10. li. 
9—11. 

In the origin, the impetration, and the application of re- 
i {> t ion, the goodness of God, still more gloriously appears. 

In its origin, it appears, 1. In that absolutely free and in- 

rinitclv abundant grace in God himself is the only primary 
Ctraee of it, John iii. 16. 1 John iv. 9, 10, 19. Rom. v. 8,20, 
21. Eph. ii. 4, 7. 2. In that the redeeming work was begun 
an infinity of ages before we were ruined, Eph. i. 4, 5. 2 Tim. 
i. 9. Tit. i. 2. 1 Pet. i. 19, 20. Prov. \ iii. 23, 31. Mat. xxv. 34. 
3. In that, moved by mere free love, all the divine persons 
heartily joined in the contrivance and plan of it, and took their 
respective share of the work, — the Father to exert the grace, — 
the Son to advance the merit, — and the Holy Ghost to apply the 
purchased benefits ; — the Father to make the exceeding great 
and precious promises, — the Son to ratify them in his obedience 
and death, and purchase the things promised, — and the Holy 
Ghost to put them, and all the blessings which thev contain, 
into our possession ; — the Father to adopt us for his children, — 
the Son to redeem us -for his mvstical members, — and the Holy 
Ghost to renew and sanctify our heart, and make us meet ha- 
bitations for God, Prov. viii. 23 — 31. Psalm xl. 6 — 8. Isa. 
xlviii. 16. liii. 10—12. lxi. 1 — 3. xlix. 1 — 6. In the im- 
petration of our redemption, God's goodness appears, 1. In 
that the deliverance is infinitelv more important, costly, sure, 
and delightful, than creation itself, Eph. i. 3 — 8. ii. 1 — 8. Rev. 
i. 5, 6. v. 9, 10. 2. That, not fallen angels, whose nature is of 
more importance and dignity, but fallen men are delivered, 
Heb. ii. 14, 16. Jude 6. 3. That the only begotten Son of 
God is the Redeemer and Surety of such mean, sinful, and in- 
famous creatures, John iii. 16. 1 John iv. 9, 10. 4. That he, 
bv the most complete obedience, and the most dreadful, but vo- 
luntary sufferings, magnified his Father's law, and satisfied his 
justice, that he might open an abundant egress for displaying 
his favours to us-ward, Heb. ii. 10. v. 8. xiii. 12. i. 3. Gal. 
iii. 13. 2 Cor. v. 21. Isa. liii. 4, 5,10. xlii. 21. Rom. viii. 3, 4. 
x. 4. 5. That he thus manifests his love, after men had, for 
four thousand vears, continued in the most uninterrupted, hor- 
rid, outrageous, and progressive rebellion against him, Gal. 
iv. 4. Gen. iii. to Mai. iv. Rom. iii. 10—19. i. 18—32. v. 
6 — 10,20,21. 6. That notwithstanding God's most dreadful 
curse lay upon Christ from his conception till his death, the 
Holy Ghost marvellously furnished him for, and supported him 
under his arduous work, John iii. 34. Heb. ix. 14. 7. That 
God accepted this satisfaction due from us, from his own Son 

T 



122 OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 

in our stead,. — justified and glorified him as our Representative r 
and constituted him our advocate, that our faith and hope might 
be in himself, Rom. iii. 25, 26. v. 6—11, 15 — 21. viii. 3, 4, 
32—34. iv. 25. x. 4. Isa. 1. 7, 9. Hi. 13—15. liii. 2—12. John 
iv. 9,. 10. ii. 1, 2. Eph. v. 2. Gal. ii. 20. 1 Pet. i. 18 — 21. 

1 Tim. iii. 16. Heb. vii. 25. In the application of this 

purchased redemption, the goodness of God is manifested, 

1. In that all the blessings of it are lodged in the hands of 
Christ, our elder brother, as Administrator of the new cove- 
nant, Col. i. 19. Psal. lxviii. 18. Mat. xi. 27. xxviii. 18. John 
iii. 35. Isa. xlix. 6. Psalm lxxii. 17. xxi. 4. 2. That Christ 
is exalted to the righthand of God, solemnly to take infeftment 
on, and possession of eternal happiness, in our name ; to in- 
tercede for us, and pour down the Spirit on us ; to apply to 
us all the benefits of his purchase, John xiv. 2, 3, 26. xvi. 7 — 
14. Eph. ii. 5—7. Heb. vi. 19, 20. vii. 25. iv. 14 — 16. 
1 John ii. 1, 2. 3. That in him all the blessings of redemption 
He ready for us, in exceeding great and precious promises, 
which are published to us in the gospel, Mat. xxii. 4. 2 Pet. 
i. 4. 2 Cor. i. 20. Isa. Iv. 1 — 7. Rev. xxii. 17. Prov. i. 20 — 
23. viii. 4. ix. 5. John vi. 39. 4. That these prepared bless- 
ings are so infinitely great and many, and must be bestowed 
upon us, Psal. xxxi. 19. xxxvi. 6 — 10. lxv. 4. lxviii. 10, 18 — ■ 

22. Eph. i. 3—8. ii.4 — 10. iii. 17 — 19. 5. That the offers of 
these blessings in the gospel are so particularly directed to sin- 
ners, even of the worst kind, Ezek. xxxvi. 25 — 31. Isa. xliii. 
24,25. xlvi. 12, 13. i. 18. Iv. 1—7. Jer. iii. Mat. ix. 13. xviii. 
11.1 Tim . i. 15. 6. That these offers of salvation are granted 
and continued, notwithstanding men's multiplied and dreadful 
provocations, fearful abuse, contempt, and opposition to them, 
Acts iii. 15, 26. Isa. i. 3 — 18. lvii. 17, 18. 7. That these 
offers are so great, so earnest, so engaging, so free, and con- 
descending, Psalm xxxiv. 8, 11. 1. 7. lxxxi. 8 — 10. Prov. i. 20 7 

23. viii. 4—36. ix. 1 — 6. xxiii. 26. Song iii. 11. iv. 8. v. 2. Isa. 
i. 18. xlv. 22 — 25. xlvi. 12, 13. xlix. 1—12. Iv. 1 — 7. Lxv. 1. 

2. Zech. ix. 9, 12. Mat. xi. 5, 28 — 30. xxii. 1 — 9. Luke xiv. 
16—23. John vii. 37—39. vi. 37—40. 2 Cor. v. 18—21. Rev. 
xxii. 17. 8. That many, if not most, of those who have these 
offered blessings conferred upon them, in respect of their for- 
mer outward circumstances, tempers, or morals, were of the 
very dregs of mankind, Luke xix. 10. Matt. xxii. 9. ix. 13. 
1 Cor. i. 25—31. 1 Tim. i. 13, 15, 16. 9. That God taketh 
such pleasure in the application of redemption, Isa. lxv. 1, 2. 
Ixii. 5, 11. lxi. 1, 2, 10. Jer. xxxii. 38—41. xxxi. 18 — 20. Mic. 
vii. 19. Zeph. iii. 17. 10. That the most outrageous sinners 
are often received by God with distinguished marks of com- 
passion and kindness, Luke xv. 20 — 22. vii. xxiii. John iv. 
Acts ii. iv. vi. ix. xxii. xxvi, 1 Cor. xv. £~-10. Gal. i. 15, 16. 



OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 12£ 

1 Tim. i. 13 — 16. 11. That amidst strange and furious oppo- 
sition, Christ and his Spirit enter into men's hearts, in order 
to apply his benefits, Rom. vii. 8 — 25. Lukexi. 21,22. Psalm 
ex. 2, 3. 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. 12. That he deals so tenderly with 
his people when they affend him, Psalm tiii. 12, 13. Isa. 
Jvii. 17, 18, 19. Jer. xxxi. 18 — 20. iii. Hos. vi. 4. xi. 8. 
13. That he closely adheres to them, sympathizes with them 
under all their troubles, and delivers them as soon as it can 
be for their real advantage, Zech. ii. 8. Isa. lxiii. 9. xl. It. 
xli. 10, 14, 17, 18.x lvi. 4. Luke xviii. 8. ; delights to converse 
with them, and to hear and answer their prayers, Jer. xxxii. 
41. xxxiii. 3. Zeph. iii. 17. Isa. lxii. 4, 5. xxx. 18, 21. lviii. 9. 
Ixv. 24. xlv. 11. Luke xi. 9. Mat. vii. 7. Psal. 1. 15. xci. 15. 

lxxxv. 6, 8. Song ii. 14. v iii. 13. In fine, God's goodness 

appears in manifold respects, in all the particular blessings 
of our election, union with Christ, justification, adoption, 
sanctification, spiritual comfort, and eternal giory ; — and in all 
the means of grace, ordinary or solemn, Eph. i. 3 — 8. ii. -1 
— 10. Rom. v. 15—21. 

VIII. The truth of God is not here taken for the reality 
of his existence, and the necessary possession of infinite excel- 
lency, on account of which he is called the true God, in op<- 
position to such as are gods only in respect of name, but have 
no infinite or independent perfection, Jer. x. 10. but it means 
that essential property of his nature, by which he is infinitely 
free from, and abhors all deceit and falsehood. It may be dis- 
tinguished into his sincerity, uprightness, or candour, which 
consists in the exact agreement of his words and works with 
his thoughts, inclination, or will ; and his veracity or faithful- 
ness, which consists in the exact correspondence of his works 
with his declarations, predictions, promises, and threatenings, 
and with all these relations in which he stands to his creatures. 

It is most evident, that God is truf in these respects : 
1. The Scriptures expressly represent him as a God of truth, - 
that cannot lie or fail to perform his word, Num. xxiii." 19. 
1 Sam. xv. 29. Tit. i. 2. Heb. vi. 17, 18. x. 23. 2 Tim. ii. 13. 
1 Thess. v. 24. 1 Cor. ?• 9. x. 13. Deut. vii. 9. xxxii. 4. Neh. 
ix. 8. Psal. xxxiii. d. lxxxix. 1, 2, 5, 8, 14, 35. xxxvi. 5. cxix. 
38, 49, 70, 160. cxi, 7, 8. c. 5. xxv. 10. xxxi. 5. Isa. xxv. 1. 
Ixv. 16. John xvii. 17. Rom. iii. 3, 4. 1 Pet. iv. 19. Rev. i. 5. 
iii. 15. John xiv. 16, 17. 2. His independence, infinite holi- 
ness, equity, power, and majesty, set him above all possibility 
of, or temptation to deceit or falsehood, Num. xxiii. 19. 1 Sam. 
xv. 29. Heb. vi. 16 — 21. 2 Tim. ii. 13. 3. All that candour and 
faithfulness which is among mankind, or regard to it, proceed 
from him, James i. 17. 1 Cor. iv. 7. 4. This candour or faith- 



1S4 OF THE NATURE OK PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 

is manifested in, 1. The self-consistency of all his words, not- 
withstanding their being spoken on very different occasions, 
Psalm cxix. 30, 31,43, 86, 87, 90, 104, 128, 138, 142, 160, 
163. 2. None of his words are contrary to the discoveries 
of his perfections, which are made by the light of nature or by 
Revelation, 2 Tim. ii. 13. Deut. xxxii. 4. 3. His whole work 
of providence, with all the dispositions and actions of mankind, 
plainly confirm the leading truths of his word, compare Exod. 
xxxiv. 6, 7. Deut. xxxii. 4. with the history of his works, Gen. 
iii. to Esther x. Isa. i. to Mai. iv. Mat. i. to Rev. xxii. 
Psalms lxxviii. ciii. cvii. cxxxvi. cxlv. — cxlix. Jer. xvii. 9. 
Rom. iii. 10 — 20. viii. 7, 8. i. 24 — 32. Mat. v. 19. with the his- 
tory of mankind, Gen. iv. vi. xi. 2 Kings xvii. Neh. ix. Ezek. 
xvi. xx. xxiii. Isa. lix. Jer. ii. — xxiii. xliv. &c. 4. All the 
principal acts of his providence in the world are a manifest ful- 
filment of his inspired predictions. 5. He hath, or doth, ac- 
complish those promises, threatenings, or predictions, which, 
to us, appear most unlikely to be fulfilled, or which he had the 
strongest-like reasons to shift, as of the incarnation, sufferings, 
and death of his Son, the calling of the Gentiles, — and the Jus- 
tification, Sanctification, and Glorification of sinful men, Gal. 
iv. 4 — 6. Isa. liii. Mat. i. to Acts xxviii. 1 Cor. vi. 9 — 11. 
Eph. i. ii. iii. Rom. i. — xi. Col. i. ii. 6. His truth and faith- 
fulness will be most fully manifested in the last judgment, when 
all the works of God and men shall be exactly compared \v ith 
his word, — and in the everlasting happiness or misery of angels 
and men, Rev. xx. 12 — 15. Mat. xxv. 31 — 46. 2 Thess. i. 6 — 
10. Rom. ii. 6 — 10. 

To anticipate Objections, itmust be observed, 1. That God 
may declare to men what is their duty, without manifesting his 
own secret intentions. His law is the onlv rule of our duty ; 
and his purpose the only rule of his own conduct, Mic. vi. 8. 
with Deut. xxix. 29. Isa. viii. 20. Iv. 8 — 11. Eph. i. 11. 2. That 
God may permit others to deceive, or to be deceived, without 
having any deceit in hittvself, or in his conduct, 1 Kings xxii. 
22,53. Ezek. xiv. 9. witK Deut. xxxii. 4. Psal. xxv. 8, 10. 
3. That when promises, threateiAngs, or predictions, have in 
them a condition expressed or undeisi-pod, the fulfilment of 
them doth not fall due, and ought not to be looked for, unless 
that condition be first fulfilled, Mark xvi. 16. Jon. iii. 1 Sam. 
xxiii. 11, 12. Isa. xxxviii. 1. 

My Soul, stop thy contemplation of the Most High, and ask 
thyself, as in his presence : If God be a Spirit, am I spiritually 
minded, and a worshipper of Him in spirit and in truth ? Do I 
d' . id banish every carnal imagination of him from my 
heart r— Is he the all-knowing and only wise God P Do I then 



OF THE XATUKE OH PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 

behave as one ever nuked and open to his view ? Do I rei 
rently avoid all prying into his 6ecreta . ? Do I relish all his ora- 
clea, as the storehouse and fountain of all true wisdom and 
knowledge to my heart? Do I cordiallv approve all his ordi- 
nances, and admire his whole word, purpose, and work ? Do I 
acknowledge him in all my ways, that he mav direct my paths ; 
and in the most perplexing cases, trust to his skill and power 
for my deliverance? — If he be Almighty, — a Sovereign lluln\ 
am I, in the view of my own weakness, still blushing, still 
trembling before him ? Do I always labour to check the very 
first risings of my heart in rebellion against Him ? Do I, with- 
out staggering, rest the whole burden of my salvation upon 
Him ? Do I rejoice in Him, and firmly expect deliverance from 
Him, when I apprehend all things working against me? Do I 
ascribe all that I am and have, except my sinfulness, to Him? 
And am I contented with all that I meet with in providence, 

as the doing of my Lord ? Am I holy as he is holy ; pure 

as he is pure ? Do I abhor myself and all my righteousness in 
his sight? Do I chiefly delight in his holiness ? And doth even 
the contempt of it by others excite my love to, and esteem of 
it? Do I, in all my dealings with Him, labour to act under a 
deep impression of his holiness? Do I, above all things, hate 
sin : — my own sin ? — my most refined and secret sin ? Do I 
alway labour in the gospel-glass to behold his holiness, that I 
may be changed into the same image, from glory to glory, 
even as by the Spirit of the Lord ? Under the affecting- 
views of his Justice, Do I revere every dispensation of his pro- 
vidence, and kindly acknowledge, that unto him as my Lord 
belongeth righteousness, and unto me shame and confusion of 
face ? Do I live in perpetual wonder, that his infinite equitv 
can suffer such a sinner to live ; nay, will save me ? Do I con- 
tinually flee from all my own righteousness to that of Jesus 
Christ, and rest on it alone for my eternal salvation ? — If God 
be good, — be Love, am I, with amazement, believing his lov- 
ing-kindness, and applying it to my own heart ? Am I open- 
ing my mouth wide, that he may fill it ? Am I satisfied with 
his goodness, as the source and the substance of all my hap- 
piness ? Do I reckon all things, as coming from his hand, as 
good, — very good for me ? Do I, above all, desire to be an 
eternal debtor and unparalelled miracle of his redeeming good- 
ness ? And all inflamed herewith, how bums my heart with 

love to Him that first loved me, and gave his Son for me ? 

Do I love them that hate me ? and do good to, and pray for them 

that despitefullv use me ? If he be the God of truth, Have 

I set to my seal, that he hath given me eternal life in his Son ? 
Have I found his promises and eaten them ; have they been to 
me the joy and rejoicing of my heart ? Do I hold them fast, 



V2i> OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 

and refuse to let them go ? Have I rejoiced at finding them, as 
one that findeth great spoil, — and chosen them to be my heri- 
tage for ever ? — Is this God, who is manifested in all around 
mey — in all before, behind, above, or below me, for ever in 
mine eye, and in all the powers of my soul ? — Is he my Saviour, 
my Father, my Husband, — my Friend, my Master, my Por- 
tion, my Pattern, my God, — my all ? 

The inimitable or incommunicable perfections of God are, 

I. His SELF-EXISTENCE and ABSOLUTE INDEPENDENCE, in 

respect of which, his being and nature are necessary. He can- 
not but be ; and be what he is ; and is altogether in and of 
himself, Exod. iii. 14. Rev. i. 8. xvi. 5. xxii. 6. He hath no 
dependence on any creature ; but ever} 7 creature, in its exist- 
ence, nature, and operation, is wholly dependent on him, Psal. 
cii, 26, 27. xvi. 2. Job xxii. 2. xxxv. 6, 7. — And, from this his 
absolute sovereignty and dominion doth proceed, Dan. iv. 34, 
35. ii. 20, 22. Mat. xi. 26. xx. 15. 

II. His absolute simplicity, in respect of which he is abso- 
lutely free from all composition, and every thing in him is God 
himself. 1. He is represented as a simple abstract, as, — Light, 
• — Love, — Life, 1 John i. 5. iv. 8, 16. v. 20. 2. Being the 
independent and absolutely jirst being, he could have none to 
unite compounding parts in him, Isa. xli. 4. xliv. 6. 3. Being 
incorruptible and unchangeable, he cannot consist of divisible 
parts, Rom. i. 23. 1 Tim. i. 17. vi. 16. Mai. iii. 6. 4. Being 
infinite, there cannot be any thing added to another in him, 
Jer. xxiii. 23. 1 Kings viii. 27. 5. Being perfect in the highest 
degree, he cannot be compounded of things which, taken sepa- 
rately, would be imperfect, Job xi. 7. 

III. His infinity, which denotes him as great and excellent 
in every respect, as he can be. It includes the unbounded ercei- 
lency of his nature. Hence he is represented as great, Deut. 
xxxii. 3. 1 Chron. xvi. 25. Ezra v. 8. Job xxxvi. 26. xxxvii. 
22. Tit. ii. 13. Psalm xxix. — greater than all men, — than all 
nations, Psalm xxxv. 10. civ. 1. lxxxvi. 8. lxxxix. 5 — 8 Dan. 
iv. 32. Isa. xl. 12 — 22. — greater than all things, greater than 
all gods, Job xi. 7 — 9. 1 Kings viii. 27. Psalm lxxxvi. 8. Exod. 
xviii. 11. — as transcending all possible limits of excellency, Job 
xi. 7. Psalm cxlv. 3. cxlvii. 5. — It also includes the unbounded 
extent of his presence. The being of his essence, wherever space 
or any creature could be, is called his immensity, 1 Kings viii, 
27. and its being wherever creatures actually are, is called his 
omnip'csence. Psalm cxxxix. 7 — 10. Jer, xxiii. 23, 24. Eph. iv. 



OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 

6. 1 Cor. xii. G. — God is peculiarly present with Christ. His 
nature in the person of the Son is united to, and dwells with 
his manhood, Col. ii. 9. 1 Tim. iii. 16. Rom. viii. 3. Gal. iv. 4. 
And he delightfullv dwells inhimas God-man Mediator, 2 Cor. 
v. 19. — He is present with his saints, graciously dwelling in their 
heart, and thus affording them his peculiar favour, help, and 
comfort, John xiv. 16, 23. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. Rom. viii. 14 — 17, 
26,27. Gal. iv. 6. 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. vi. 18, 19. 2 Cor. vi. 16. 
Rev. xxi. 3. Eph. ii. 19 — 22. 1 John iv. 4, 16. iii. 24. John 
xvii. 21 — 23, 26. Psalm xxxix. 12. — He was present with his 
prophets and apostles, in his infallible inspiring influence on 
thiir minds, in their declaration of his will to men, 1 Pet. i. 11. 
2 Pet. i. 21. 2 Sam. xxiii. 2. Heb. i. 1. — He is present in his 
church, in his oracles, and in the instituted ordinances of his 
worship, in the representatives of his authoritv, and in the in- 
fluences of his Spirit, Matth. xviii. 20. xxviii. 20. Exod. xx. 24. 
John xvii. 21. 1 Cor. xii. 12, 13, 28. Eph. iv. 11 — 13. 1 John 
i. 3, 5, 7. 1 Pet. i. 12. — He was present in the Jewish taber- 
nacle and temple at Jerusalem, or at Bethel, Sinai, &c. in the 
manifested symbols of his glory, power, and grace, and in his 
solemn ordinances of worship, Exod. xxv. 8, 22. xxix. 43. 
1 Kfngs v. 5. viii. 11. Gen. xxviii. 16, 17. xlviii. 3. Exod. iii. 4. 

xix. 11. Psalm lxviii. 17. cxxxii. 5. lxxx. 1, 2 He is present 

in heaven in the most glorious manifestation of his excellencies, 
Isa.lxvi. 1. Psalm cxv. 3. Matth. vi. 9. Heb. xii. 23. Phil. iii. 
20. John xiv. 2, 3. iv. 14. viii. 1. — He is present in hell, in the 
most dreadful execution of his wrath, Psalm cxxxix. 8. 2 Thess. 
i. 9. Rev. xiv. lO, 11. Mark ix. 44, 46. — He is present with all 
creatures, in observing, supporting, and governing them, Heb. 
i. 3. iv. 13. Psalm cxxxix. 12, 13. Jer. xxiii. 23, 24. Col. i. 17. 
1 Cor. xii. 6. 

IV. His absolute eternity consists in his being without 
beginning, ending, or succession of duration, which indeed is 
nothing else than his infinity as it respects duration. It is ma- 
nifest, that he is eternal in this manner. 1. The Scripture 
expresslv represents him as eternal or everlasting, without any 
limitation, Gen. xxi. 33. Deut. xxxiii. 29. Psal. ix. 7. Iv. 19. 
Prov. viii. 23, 25. Isa. xl. 28. lvii. 15. Dan. vi. 26. Jer. x. 10. 
Rom. xvi. 26. Rev. iv. 8, 9. Hab. i. 12. — And, he alone is eter- 
nal, without beginning or succession of duration, Psalm xc. 2, 
4. xcii. 8. cii. 24—28. 2 Pet. iii. 8. Rom. i. 23. 1 Tim. i. 17. 
vi. 16. Isa. ix. 6. lvii. 15. James i. 17. He alone is the First 
and the Last, Isa. xii. 4. xliv. 6. xlviii. 12. Rev. i. 8, 11. 
xxi. 6. xxii. 13. 2. The days, years, and succession, competenr 
to his creatures, are r< presentc d as unapplicable to him, Job 
xxxvi. 26. x. 4. Psal. xc. 4. 2 Pet. iin 8. Dan. vii. 9, 24. 



12S OF THE NATUKE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOD. 

Psalm cii. 24, 27. Job x. 5. Isa. xliii. 13. 3. Many eternal 
things, as eternal life, — strength,-merey, — dominion, — throne, 
8cc. are ascribed to bim, Deut. xxxii. 40. xxxiii. 27. Rev. iv. 9. 
v. 14. Isa. xxvi. 4. Psalm ciii. 17. cxxxvh Dan. iv. 3, 34. vi. 

26. Psalm xciii. 2. Lam. v. 19. Isa. li. 6 — 8. Psal. xxxiii. 

11. cxxxv. 13. And we can as easily conceive how God's 

unsuccessive eternity co-exists with the successive duration of 
his creatures, as we can conceive how bis omnipresence co-exists 
with all material substances, without having any corporeal ex- 
tension in himself, 

V. His unchangf.ablf.ness is that essential property of his 
nature, by which he is from eternity to eternity, without any 
alteration, always the same ; and it is often expressly ascribed 
to him in Scripture, James i. 17. Mai. iii. G. 1 Tim. i. 17. Rom. 
i. 23. Psalm cii. 24—27. Heb. i. 11, 12. xiii. 8. yi. 18. Isa. xlvi. 
4. Ivii. 15. Exod. iii. 14. Num. xxiii. 19. Tit. 'i. 2. 2 Tim. ii. 
13. — He is unchangeable, 1. Ir. his existence, that he cannot 
cease to be, 1 Tiro. i. 17. vi. 16. Rom. i. 25. Psalm cii. 24 — 

27. 2. In his essence or nature, that he cannot cease to be 
whatever he is, in his perfections of wisdom, power, holiness, 
justice, goodness, or truth, &c. 2 Tim. ii. 13. Isa. xxvi. 4. 
Deut. xxxii. 4. Psalm ciii. 17. xc. 2. Exod. iii. 14. 3. In his 
actual knowledge of things, 1 Cor. ii. 16. Acts xv. 18. Heb. iv. 
13. Job xi. 7 — 9. 4. InhisTt'/n and purpose, Heb. vi. 17, 18. 
Isa. xiv. 24, 27. xlvi. 10. Psalm xxxiii. 11. Rom. ix. 11. Job 
xxiii. 13. 5. In his words, — his doctrines, laws, promises, 
threatenings, or predictions, Num. xxiii. 19. 1 Sam. xv. 29. 
Heb. vi. 18. Psal. cxix. 87.- 6. In his essential presence, that 
he cannot properly remove from one place to another, 1 Kings 
viii. 27. Jer. xxiii. 23, 24. 7. In his duration, which is neither 
less nor greater. He hath never existed longer, nor bath any 
less future duration to enjoy, Psalm xc. 2, 4. 2 Pet. iii. 8.— 
His formation of his creatures from nothing, or his changing 
of their forms in his providence, infers no change in himself. 
His power and will to create, preserve, or govern them, in such 
a manner, being the very same from all eternity. — New rela- 
tions between him and his creatures infer not a change in him, 
but in them. 

VI. His oneness, in respect of which, on account of his in- 
finite perfection, there neither is, nor can be any other like to, 
or equal with him. This doth not mean, that there is but one 
Supreme God, as Arians and Socinians profess, who admit i su- 
bordinate gods. Nor that there is but one specific divine nature, 
which different beings may possess, as Tritheists pretend : Nor 
that there is but one divine person exhibited in different charac- 



OF THE NATURE OR PERFECTIONS OF GOO. 1^9 

titers, and by different names, as Sahellians ^'contend. But it 
means, that there neither is, nor can be any more than one in- 
dividual, or as others speak, numerical divine substance. This 
the necessary self-existence of God, his absolute eternity, infi- 
nity, omnipotence, and sovereignty, which exclude every rival 
partaker, demonstrate. And multitudes of scriptures expressly 
declare it, Deut. iv. 35, 39. vi. 4. xxxii. 39. xxxiii. 26. 1 Sam. 
ii. 2. 2 Sam. vii. 22. 1 Kings viii. 23. 2 Kings xix. 15. 1 Chron. 
XV. 26. Psalm xviii. 31. xxxv. 10. lxxxvi. 8. cxlviii. 13. Ixxxix. 
6, 8. cxv. 4 — 8. Isa. xliii. 10 — 15. xliv. 26. xlv. 5, 18 — 22. Jer. 
X. 8 — 15. xiv. 22. Hos. xiii. 4. Exod. xx. 3. John xvii. 3. 
Rom. iii. 30. 1 Cor. viii. 6. Eph. iv. 6. James ii. 19. iv. 12- 

1 Tim. ii. 5 But none of these texts exclude the Son, or the 

Holy Ghost, from true and supreme godhead. Nay, the very 
characters ascribed to the one only true God, are ascribed to each 
of these two persons, compare Isa. xliv. 6. with Rev. i. 8, 11. 
— Isa. xlv. 22, 23. with Rom. xiv. 9, 10. Phil. ii. 10, 11. — 
John xvii. 3. with 1 John v. 20, 21. — Rom. iii. 30. with Isa. 
liii. 11. — In 1 Cor. viii. 6. 1 Tim. ii. 5. one God means the 

divine nature, as distinguished from Christ the Mediator. 

Nor are the distinct persons in the godhead represented as 
having similar, but the vert) same names, attributes, counsel, 
will, and work, compare Psalm xxxiii. 6. Isa. xliv. 24. — Rom- 
x. 12. Luke ii. 11. Rom. xi. 34. Isa. xl. 13. 2 Cor. iii. 18. — 
Deut.vi.4. Psal.lxxxiii. 18. Jer. xxiii. 6 — Ezek.viii.3. Matth. 
xv. 31. Luke i. 16, 17. 2 Sam. xxiii. 3. — Rom vii. 25. Gal, 
vi. 2. Rom. viii. 2. Deut. vi. 16. 1 Cor. x. 9. Acts v. 9. — 1 Cor. 
ii. 16. Rom. viii. 27. — 1 Thess* iv. 3. Acts xxii. 14. ix. 15, 17. 

2 Pet. i. 21.. Ezek. xxxviii. 3 — 14. 2 Cor. xii. 9. Rom. xv. 

19. — Rom. xvi. 26. Rev. xxii. 13. Heb. ix. 14. — John vii. 28. 
Rev. iii. 7. 1 John v. 6. John xiv. 17. — Rev. xv. 4. Acts iii. 14. 
Dan. ix. 24. 1 John ii. 20. John xiv. 26. — Jer. xxiii. 24. Ezek. 
i. 22. Psalm exxxix. 7. — Deut. xxx. 20. Col. iii. 4. Rom. viri. 

10 Psalm c. 3. John i. 3. Job xxxiii. 4. — John v. 21. 1 Cor. 

xv. 45. John vi. 63. Rom. viii. 1 1— John vi. 45. Gal. i. 12. John 
xiv. 26.— 1 John i. 3. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. — 1 Cor. xiv. 25. 2 Cor. 
xiii. 5. John xiv. 17. 2 Cor. vi. 16. Eph. iii. 17. Rom. viii. 11. 
—Phil. iii. 15. Gal. i. 12. Luke ii. 26. Heb. i. 1. 2 Cor. xiii. 3. 
Mark xiii. 11. — Isa. xlix. 7, 8. Acts xiii. 3. — 1 Cor. vi. 14. 
John ii. 19. 1 Pet. iii. 18. — Isa. xlviii. 17. John x. 3. Rom. 

viii. 14 2 Cor. iii. 5,6. 1 Tim. i. 12. Acts xx. 28. — Jude 1. 

Heb. ii. 11. Rom. xv. 16 1 Cor. xii. 16. Col. iii. 11. 1 Cor. 

xii. 11. — In which texts, in about twenty-four instances, that 
which is ascribed to God in the first, is ascribed to the Son and 
the Holy Ghost in those that immediately follow. 

VII. His subsistence in three distinct persons, the first the 

U* 



12& OP TJ1E PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD. 

Father, the second the Son, and the third the Holy Ghost, 
proceeding from both.-r-It is evident, from the independence, 
simplicity, eternity, and unchangeableness of the divine nature, 
that in whatever form it subsists, that form must be a neces- 
sary perfection or excellency of it, without which it could not 
at all exist. — The personal properties of these persons being 
thus as absolutely necessary, as the existence of the divine na- 
ture itself, — and each having that whole nature which neces- 
sarily subsists in such persons, as above related to one another, 
there neither is, nor can be, an inferiority in, or dependence 
upon, one person, more than another. But of this mystery in 
the following chapter. 



CHAP. II. 
Of the Persons in the Godhead. 

A PERSON is a thinking substance, wliich can actbyiiseJf 
Or, it is an intelligent agent, which is neither apart of, nor 
sustained by another. — The characteristics of a person are, 

1. That it be possessed of a rational understanding and will. 

2. That the pronouns he, and especially I and thou, be ap- 
plicable to it, not merely in figurative, but in the most plain and 
simple language. 3. That thinking, speaking, judging, send- 
ing, and qjher personal acts, be competent to it. 4. That it be 
capable of personal offices or stations, as prophet, priest, king, 
teacher, advocate,- captain, &c— — But, as the divine nature 
infinitely differs from a created one, so a divine person infinite- 
ly differs from a created one. 1. All created persons are se- 
parate or separable in their substance one from another : but 
divine persons, in their substance, are perfectly one and the 
same with, and in one another, Johnx. SO. xiv. 9, 10. 2. Dif- 
ferent created persons can have o&ly a substance of the same 
kind, not the same individual one. But divine persons have, 
and must have, each of them the very same individual or j 
numerical substance, 1 John v. 7. John x. SO. 3. Every 
created person is a distinct being, in, or by, though not from 
itself. But all divine persons are, and must be, one being. 

It hath been formerly proved, that the infinite nature of God 
ea n subsist in a plurality of persons. The Scripture manifests 
thar it doth so. 1 . Elohim, which means God in the plural, or 
the worshipful ones, is used in the Old Testament about tw© , 
thousand times, to denote the true God. And, it is often con- ! 
nected with a verb in the singular number, Gen. i. 1, 3, &c. — 
and sometimes with a verb or adjective plural, Gen. xx. 13. 
xxxv. 7. Deut. iv. 7. Josh. xxiv. 19. 1 Sam. xvii. 26, 36. 
Psalm lviii. 11. Jer, x. 10. Dan, V. 18, 20.— Even in Psalm 



OP THE PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD 13; 

adv. 6. Ei-oiiim may denote Christ, who is the express image 

.he invisible God : and in ver. 7. it may denote the Father 

and Spirit who anoint him. Nay, though in one passage it 

should mean but one divine person, it will not follow, that iu 

some thousands it should lose its natural signification. . 

Angels, Magistrates, Moses, and idols, are called Elohhn, be- 
cause they occupied the place of these divine persons, as mes- 
sengers, deputies, or rivals, Psalm xcvii. 7. lxxxii. 1,6. Exod. 
xxii. 28. vh. 1. Judg. ii. 12. 2. The true God is often repre- 
sented as more than one person, Gen. i. 26. iii. 22. xi. f. Job 
xxxv. 10. Psalm lxxviii.25. (Abirim) Eccl. xii. 1. v. 8. Prov. 
ix. K). xxx. 3. Hos. xi. 12. Isa. xlv. 15. liv. 5. vi. 8. with John 
xii. 39. Acts xxviii. 25, 26. — Isa. xli. 21—23. Song i. 11. 
viii. 9. Dan. iy. 17. (the decreeing watchers being the same 
as the Most High, ver. 24. — Mai. i. 6. John iii. 11. xiv. 21, 
23. xvii. 21, 22. 3. More persons jhan one are represented 
as Jkiiova.ii or God, Gen. xix. 24. Psalm xlv. 6, 7. lxviii. 
17, 18. Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. xxxiii. 15, 16. 4. Many passages of 
Scripture represent Jehovah as an .Angel or Messenger, — which 
are to be understood of the Son of God, sent forth to announce 
and officiate in the work of our redemption, Gen. xvi. 7 — 12. 
xviii. 12, 13, 20, 26—32. xxii. 11, 12. Heb. vi. 13—18. Gen. 
xlviii. 16. Exod. iii. 2—15. xxiii. 20, 21. 1 Cor. x. 9.— 
Zech. ii. 3,5, 8, 10. iii. 1, 2. 

It is fully evident, that there are precisely three persons 
in the one godhead, or divine essence or substance, from, 1. 
The scriptural account of God's creation of all things, Gen. i. 
1 — 3. Psalm xxxiii. 6. with Eph. iii. 9. Acts iv. 24, 27. Heb. 
i. 2. John i. 3. Job xxvi. 13. Psalm civ. 30. 2. From the ac- 
count of his creation of man, Gen. i. 26. Psalm xcv. 6 — 8. 
Heb. iii. 6, 7. Isa. liv. 5. Eccl. xii. 1. Job xxxiii. 4. 3. From 
the account of his common providence, John v. 17. Heb. i. 3. 
Psalm civ. 30. Isa. xxxiv. 16. 4. From the account of the 
Israelites' deliverance from Egypt, Isa. Ixiii. 9, 10, 14. 5, 
From the account of his covenanting with the Israelites, Hag. 
ii. 4 — 7. 6. From the account of his general plan as to our 
redemption from our sinfulness and misery, Eph. i. 3—14. 
1 Pet i. 2. 7. From the account of his mission of Christ to 
be our Mediator, Isa. xlviii. 16. with verses 12, 13, 17. 

8. From the account of Christ's incarnation, Luke i. 35. 

9. From the account of God's anointing Christ and his peo- 
ple, Isa. xi. 2. lxi. 1, 2. 2 Cor. i. 22. 10. From the account 
of Christ's baptism, Mat. iii. 16, 17. John i. 32 — 34. 11. 
From the account of his ministrations and assistance therein, 
Isa. xlii. 1. Mat. xii. 18. 12. From the account of his offer- 
ing himself in sacrifice to God, Heb. ix. 14. 13. From the 
account of his and his people's resurrection, Rom. i. 4. viii. 11. 



: 



132 OF THE PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD. 



14. From the institution of baptism, Mat. xxviii. 19. IS. From. 
Christ's promises of the Spirit to his apostles and followers, 
John xiv. 16, 17, 26. xv. 26. xvi. 5 — 15. 16. From the ac- 
count of God's changing our spiritual state and nature, Rom. 
viii. 2, 3. 1 John iii. 20, 24. 1 Cor. vi. 11. Tit. iii. 4 — 7. 

1 Pet. i. 2, 3. 17. From the account of our adoption into 
God's family, Gal. iv. 6. Rom. viii. 14 — 17. 18. From the 
account of our supplies of sanctifying grace, Eph. i. 17 — 28. 
3 Cor. i. 21, 22. iii. 14 — 16. 1 Th'ess. iii. 11 — 13- 2Thess. iii. 
5. 19. From the account of our prayer and access to God, 
Zech. xii. 10. Rev. i. 4, 5. Eph. ii. 17, 18. 20. From the 
account of our glorification, John xiy. 2, 3. with Eph. i. 14. 

2 Cor.i. 22. 21. From the account of God's giving of gifts to 
church-officers, 1 Cor. xii. 3 — 6. 22. From the account of the 
inspiration of Scripture, 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, 3. 2 Pet. i. 17 — 20. 
23. From the account of the unity of the church, Eph. iv. 
4 — 6. 24. From the triple repetition of the name or epithets 
ascribed to God, Num. vi. 24 — 26. Isa. xxxiii. 22. Dan. ix. 19. 
Isa. vi. 3. Rev. iv. 8. But this is not so evidently conclusive. 
25. From the account of the subject preached by faithful mi- 
nisters, and their assistance in their work, 1 John iv. 2. Rom. 
xv. 16, 19, 30. 1 Cor. xii. 3. 26. From the account of Christ's 
manner of working miracles, Mat. xii. 28. 27. From the ac- 
count of the marvellous efficacy of the gospel, 2 Cor. iii. 3, 
i Thess. i. 4 — 6. 28. From the account of the dreadful nature 
of unbelief, Heb. x. 29. 29. From the representation of be- 
lievers' earnest study, Jude 20, 21. 30. From the account of 
their spiritual comforts, Rom. viii. 9. 1 Pet. iv. 14. 31. From 
the apostolical benediction, 2 Cor. xiii. 14. 32. From the 

heavenly attestation of the gospel record, 1 John v. 7. In 

which multitude of inspired texts we find one person under the 
name of Jehovah, God, Father, or represented as primary 
agent ; a second under the name of the Word, Son, Servant, 
Angel, Anointed, Jesus Christ, Desire of all nations, and re- 
presented as the Saviour of men ; and a third, called the Spirit, 
Jioly Ghost, God, Lord, &c. 

Indeed, the Socinians, modern Arians, and some others, 
contend that the last-mentioned text, John v. 7. is spurious ; 
because, l.^Many Greek manuscripts want it." But many 
of these also want other texts : and the similarity of the 7th 
and 8th verses made a careless transcriber apt to overleap one 
of them. 2. " Many of the ancient translations want it." 
But none of these translations are of great weight in this mat- 
ter, for they want much more of the New Testament. Nor 
are any of them, except the Syriac and Jerome's Latin one, 
much worth. 3. " The ancient Fathers do not quote it, 
*' when, in their disputes with heretics, it would have been 






OF THE PERSONS IN THE GODIIEAE. 

*' much to their purpose." But that might be, because ■ they 
had deficient copies, or cared not to adduce a text which tin ir 

opponents might have rejected. Let it be further observed, 

1. The orthodox, had no temptation to forge it, having plenty 
of proof for their faith concerning the Trinity beside. But 
the Antitrinitarians had strong temptations to drop it out of 
-■their copies, which is also more easily done. And yet perhaps 
it originated from no design, but from the hurry of a tran- 
scriber, amidst the rage of persecution. 2. About 1400 years 
ago, we find complaints of some Antitrinitarians attempting to 
corrupt the Scripture ; but never, till of late, that the ortho- 
dox had done so. 3. This text is referred to by Tertullian 
about A. D. 200, quoted by Cyprian about 250, and by Atha- 
nasius, or one in his name, about 350. Jerome hath it in his 
translation about 400, and admitting it to be in all the best 
Greek copies, he severely blames the want of it in the old 
Latin version. Soon after, it is quoted by Eucherus and 
Vigilius. In 484 the African bishops quote it in the Confes- 
sion of their faith which they presented to Hunneric their 
Arian king ; and about thirty years after, Fulgentius, when 
required by an Arian king to produce his objections against 
the Arians, quoted it three times. When the Vulgate Latin 
translation was solemnly, and with great care, corrected from 
Greek and Latin manuscripts, by order of Charles the Great, 
about A. D. 800, and again by the famed University of Sor- 
bonne, about two hundred years after, this text was retained. 
Erasmus, who inclined to Arianisni, first suspected it, and 
dropt it out of his first edition of the New Testament : but re- 
stored it in his subsequent editions, upon the credit of an old 
British copy. It is said, that nine of Stephen's sixteen manu- 
scripts from which he printed his excellent edition of the 
Greek New Testament, had this text. No doubt, many of 
the manuscripts, from which other principal editions were 
formed, are now lost. A printed copy is even more authentic 
than almost any manuscript extant, the oldest of which were 
written some hundred years after all these of the apostles were 
either worn out, Or lost : for more learning and care have 
been exercised to render some printed editions correct, than 
perhaps was taken on all the manuscripts written for a thou- 
sand years before the Refoi'mation. 4. The passage appears 
deficient and unconnected if this verse be dropt. Mill and 
Bengelius have therefore honestly retained it, in their excel- 
lent editions, notwithstanding they have fairly, and with much 
more candour than Michaelis, represented the objections 
against it. 



434 OP THE PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD. 

I. The character of Father, ascribed to God, sometimes 
equally respects all the divine persons, and marks their crea- 
tion and kind perservation of persons or things, Mai. ii. 10. 
Heb. xii. 9. But, most frequently and emphatically, it de- 
notes the first person of the Godhead, as related to the second, 

as his Son. It is evident, that the Father, in this view, is 

a distinct person : 1. He is expressly called a person, Heb. 
i. 3. 2. He subsists by himself, and hath life in himself, John 
v. 26. 3. He is a, thinking and willing agent, John v. 17, 22. 
4. Manifold personal relations and acts are ascribed to him. 
He from all eternity begat the second person as his only co- 
essential Son, Psal. ii. 7. He consulted with him concerning 
our redemption, Zech. vi. 13. He fore-ordained and set him 
up for our Mediator, 1 Pet. i. 20. Prov. viii. 23. and entered 
into a covenant of grace with him, Psalm lxxxix. 1 — 37. xl. 
a — 8. Isa. liii. 10. xlix. 6 — 9. He promised, sent, and brought 
him into the world, Jerem. xxxi. 22. Zech. iii. 8, 9, 10. Luke 
i. 35. Heb. i. 6. He gave him his commission to, and furni- 
ture for his work, John x. 18. xx. 21. Isa. xi. 2, 3. xlii. 1, 6. 
xlix. 1 — 6. lxi. 1 — 3. Mat. iii. 16, 17. John i. 32, 34. iii. 34, 
35. Col. i. 19. He stood by him in his love, care, power, 
and providential assistance and comfort, during his abasement, 
Isa. xlii. 1 — 7. xlix. 2 — 8. 1. 7, 9. He spoke in him, wrought 
by him, and bore witness to him, Heb. i. 1. 2 John v. 19 — 22, 
32. viii. 16 — 19. Acts x. 38. He gave him to the death, and 
Indue time raised him from it, Rom. viii. 32. Acts ii. 23, 24. 
i John iv. 9, 10. 1 Pet. i. 21. He crowned him with glory 
and honour, exalted him to his own right hand, gave him as 
Mediator all power in heaven and on earth, and made him 
head over all things to his church, John xvii. 5. Heb. ii. 9. 
Psal. ex. 1. Acts ii. 32, 33, 36. Phil. ii. 9—11. Mat. xxviii. 18. 
John v. 22. Eph. i. 20 — 22. 1 Cor. xv. 24 — 27. He promis- 
ed, and sends the Holy Ghost, who proceeds from him, to 
anoint Christ as man and Mediator, and to send and qualify 
his prophets and apostles, ministers and people, Psal. xlv. 7. 
Joel ii. 28. Luke xxiv. 49. John xiv. 26. xv. 26. He predes- 
tinated elect men to everlasting holiness and happiness, Rom. 
viii. 28 — 30. Eph. i. 4, 5. Luke xii. 32. Mat. xx. 23. He pro- 
posed the new covenant as terms of their salvation to his Son, 
Isa. liii. 19 — 12. Psal. lxxxix. 3, 4. Heb. ii. 10. Having ac- 
cepted his atoning and reconciling righteousness in their stead, 
he savingly discovers him to them, draws them to him, and in 
him justifies and reconciles them to himself, Jer. xxxi. 32 — 34. 
Mat. xi. 25. Gal. i. 16. John vi. 44, 45. 2 Cor. v. 18 — 21. 
Rom. viii. 11, 14 — 18. Tit. iii. 5, 6. He, by his Spirit, con- 
firms and comforts them, and brings them to complete and 
everlasting happiness, 2 Cor. '.. 21, 22- Eph. iii. 20, 21. John. 



OE TIC* PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD. 

x. 28, 29. xvii. 11,24. xiv. 16,17,21,23. 2 Thess. ii. 16,17 
Heb. ii. 10. Rev. vi. 17. 

It was never denied by any but atheists, that the Father is 
ilie most high GOD. And, 1. The Seripture expressly de- 
clares it, Rom. xv. 6. 2 Cor. i. 3. Phil. ii. 11. Eph. i. 3, 17. 
Heb. i. 1, 3. 1 Pet. i. 2, 3. John xx. 17. And he is called 
Ji.hovah, Jer. xxiii. 5. xxxiv. 15. Psalm ex. 1. Isa. xliii. 5, 
6, 8. xlix. 1, 4, 5, 7, 8. 1. 4, 5. liii. 6, 10. lxi. 1. 2. Divine 
perfections are ascribed to him,, as sill-existence, John v. 26. 
Eternity, Rev. i. 4. Eph. i. 4. Absolute all-sufficiency, 1 Cor. 
xv. 28. Omnipresence with all his saints, 1 John i. 3 — 7. John 
xiv. 21, 23. Omniscience, 2 Cor. xi. 31. Almighty power, 
Mark xiv. 36. Absolute sovereignty, Mat. xi. 25 — 27. xxvi. 
S3. John Hi. 35. x. 29. xiv. 28. 1 Cor. xi. 3. xv. 24, 27, 28. 
Eph. iv. 6. 3. Divine works are ascribed to him, as Creation, 
Eph. iii. 9. Isa. xlii. 5. Providence, John v. 17. Mat. xi. 25. 
-—forgiving sin, Luke xxiii. 34. Eph. iv. 32. — raisingup Christ 
and his people from the dead, John v. 21. Heb. xiii. 20. Rom. 
viii. 11. 4. Divine worship is performed to him by Christ and 
his people, John xi. 41. xii. 27, 28. xiv. 26. xvii. Eph. i. 17. 
iii. 14. Mat. xxviii. 19. 

II. The second person in the Godhead is called the Word, 
or Word of God, because he is the perfect resemblance of his 
Father, even as our words are of our mind. He is the great 
Speaker for us to God, in his ancient engagements and his con- 
tinual intercession. He is the subject-matter and end of all di- 
vine revelations, and their principal publisher, Luke i. 2"* 2 Pet. 
i. 16. Acts xx. 32. Heb. iv. 12. John i. 1, 2, 14. 1 John i. 1. 
v. 7. Rev. xix. 13. — He is called the Son of God on account of 
his relation to the Father, by whom he is begotten, Psalm ii. 7. 

John i. 14. iii. 10. Rom. viii. 3, 32. i. 3. Gal. iv. 4. That 

he is the Sow of God, hath been attested by his Father, in re- 
peated declarations from heaven, Mat. iii. 17. xvii. 5. — by him- 
self, John v. 16, 17. x. 30, 36. xvii. 11, 24, 25. xix. 7. 'Mark 
xiv. 61, 62. Mat ; xi. 25, 26.-by the Holy Ghost, in forming his 
human nature, and in his baptismal unction, Luke i. 32, 35. Mat. 
iii. 16. John i. 33, 34.' — by John the Baptist, and by apostles 
and saints, John i. 33, 34.— Mat. xvi. 15, 16. John vi. 69. xi, 
27. Acts iii. 7. 1 John v. 5. — — It hath been confessed by de- 
vils, Mat. viii. 28, 29. Mark iii. 11. v. 7. Lukeiv. 41. and by 
wicked men, perhaps just then converted, Mat. xiv. 33. Mark 
xv. 39. 

But he is not the Son of God, by his miraculous conception 
and birth : 1 . The Holy Ghost is never represented as his Fa- 
ther, nor could bo, without admitting two fathers in the God- 
head. That holy thing born is the called, the Son of God, he- 



136 OF THE PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD. 

cause his manhood subsisted in the person of the Son of God, 
Luke i. 35. 2. He had the character and relation of Son of 
God, long before his conception or birth, Prov. xxx. 4. Psalm, 
ii. 7. Gal. iv. 4. John iii. 16, 17. 3. According to his human 
nature or flesh, he is the Son of man, — of Abraham, of David, 
and not the Son of God. 4. His being made of a woman, was 
subsequent to his being the Son of God, Rom. viii. 3, 32. Gal. 
iv. 4. 5. His extraordinary conception and birth could never 
render him the only begotten Son of God, as he is termed, John 
i. 14. iii. 16, 18. 1 John iv. 9. since Adam was his son by 
creation, and Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Samson, Samuel, and John 
the Baptist, were procreated by extraordinary influence,' — 
though indeed very different from that which was exerted in 

the production of Christ's manhood. Nor is he called the 

Son of God on account of God's raising him from the dead : for, 
1. He was the Son of God long before, Mat. iii. 17. xvii. 5< 
John v. 16, 17. x. 30, 36. Mark sriv.61, 62. Mat. xvi. 15, 16. 
John vi. 69. i. 49. 2. If his resurrection had rendered him the 
only Son of God, he would have been his own father, as he raised 
himself, John x. 17, 18. ii. 19. 3. This could not have ren- 
dered him the only begotten Son of God, as millions beside have 
or shall be raised from the dead, Mat. xxvii. 52, 53. John v. 
28, 29. 1 Thess. iv. 14, 16. Rev. xx. 12. Nor doth Acts xiii. 
33. import, that he became the Son of God by his resurrection, 
but that his Sonship was manifested by it, compare Rom. i. 3, 
4. — and that his resurrection publickly proved, that the word of 
salvation, particularly that in Psalm ii. 7, 8. was then exhibited 

given, and fulfilled to men. Nor, doth his mediatorial office 

constitute him the Son of God. 1. A mission on an errand, or 
an appointment to service, cannot, in the nature of things, con- 
stitute Sonship. 2. His Sonship is represented as prior to his 
•commission to, or execution of his mediatoral office, John iii. 
16. Gal. iv. 4. 1 John iv. 9, 10. iii. 8..Heb. v. 8. 3. His me- 
diatorial office derives virtue from his divine Sonship, and so his 
Sonship cannot depend on it, Heb. iv. 14. 4. His being from 
the Father, in respect of his Sonship, is expressly distinguished 
from hisbeing.soittoexecute his mediatorial office, John vii. 29. 
Butheisthe Son of God by necessary and eternal generation ; 
— that is, by such necessity, that the divine nature cannot at all 
exist, without subsisting in him, in the form and relation of a 
San to the first person. 1. In many texts of Scripture, he is 
simplv called the Son of God, and in that character represented 
as the Most High God, — the Lord God of his people, — the 
Lord God,— God the Saviour, Luke i. 16, 17, 32, 35, 46, 47. 
— as coming from heaven, and above au \ John iii. 31. Mat. xi. 
27. — and as the object of faith and worship, John iii. 18, 36. 
ix. 35 — 38. Mat. iv. 35. xxvii. 54.; or, as the same with God, 



OF THE PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD. 137 

"Heb. i. 8. 1 John iii. 8. with 1 Tim. iii. 16. — and as equal with 
his Father, Mat. xxviii. 19. John v. 21. 2. God hath given 
the most solemn and emphatic testimonies to his divine Son- 
ship, Mat. iii. 17. xvii. 5. The first of these texts, literally 
translated, runs, This is that my Son, — my beloved one, in whom 
I am ivell pleased. And in the other, we are commanded to 
hear him, as infinitely superiour to Moses and Elias, his then 
visitants, who had been the most extraordinary of all the Old 
Testament prophets. This manifests, that he was Judah's 
God, and the Lord God, Isa. xl. 9. — And, it is observable, 
that in all his instructions he never professed to teach in the 
name of another, but in his own : Verily I say unto you, or 
the like, plainly importing, that he himself was that Jehovah, 
in whose name the prophets had delivered their messages, 
Mat v. — vii. John iii. v. — viii. x. &c. 3. The Scriptures re- 
present him as God's own Son, — his proper Son, — his Son of 
himself, John i. 14, 18. iii. 16, 18. Rom. viii. 3, 32. 1 John iv. 
9, 12. If these expressions do not represent him as the Son 
of God by natural generation, what can do it ? 4. His being the 
Christ, Messiah, or Mediator, is plainly distinguished from 
his being the Son of God, Johni. 49. vi. 69. Mat. xvi. 16. Heb. 
v. 8. 1 John iv. 14. 5. When he was charged with blasphemy 
in making himself equal with God, by calling himself the Son 
of God, he plainly acquiesced in their interpretation of his 
words ; and instead of shewing them that his claim of Sonship 
to God did not infer his claim of equality with God, he took 
occasion further to assert and demonstrate his supreme God- 
head, John v. 16 — 29. x. 30—36. xix. 7. Mat. xxvi. 63—65. 
Nay, perhaps, making himself equal with God, John v. 18. 
are not the words of the persecuting Jews, but of the inspired 
Evangelist. 6. It was not from acts properly mediatorial, but 
from divine acts, that he was concluded to be the Son of God, 
Mat. iv. 3, 6. xiv. 33. xxvii. 40, 54. John i. 49. 7. If the 
title, The Son of man, import his possession of a real man- 
hood, his character, The Son of God, God's propei' Son, — 
Son of himself, and only begotten Son of God, must certainly 
import his possession of the divine nature, — of true and su- 
preme Godhead. Now, if he be the Son of God by nature, 

he must be his eternal Son, begotten from all eternity ; for 
nothing that is not necessarily eternal in the highest sense, 
can be natural to God. Nor is there the least impropriety in 
God's calling his own eternity thts day, as with him an un- 
successive eternity is ever present, Psalm ii. 7. with Isa. xliii. 
13. Mic. v. 2. Nor is the generation of his Son there repre- 
sented as an event decreed, but as antecedent to, and funda- 
mental of God's grant of the Gentiles to him for his mediato- 
rial inheritance, ver. 8, 9. 

X 



138 OF THE PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD. 

The Son of God is a distinct person from the Father and the 
Holy Ghost. 1 . Personal powers of rational understanding and 
will are ascribed to him, Mat. xi. 27. John i. 18. v. 21. xvii. 
2, 24. 2. He subsists as a person by himself, John v. 26. Heb. 
i. 3. 3. The personal epithets I, thou, he, are ascribed to him 
in the most plain passages of Scripture, Mat. v. John iii. Isa. 
xlix. 1 — 9. xlii. 1 — 7. 4. He is invested with, and executes 
the personal offices of Mediator, Surety, Prophet, Priest, King, 
ike. 1 Tim. ii. 5. Heb. vii. 22. Actsiii. 22. Psalm ex. 4. ii. 6. 
Mat. xxiii. 8 — 10. 5. Multitudes of personal acts are ascribed 
to him, — as, engaging his heart, Jer. xxx. 2 1 . taking our nature 
upon him, Heb. ii. 14. fulfilling all righteousness in our stead, 
Mat. iii. 15. Luke xxiv. 26. rising from the dead, John ii. 19. 
X. 17, 18. ascending to heaven, Heb. i. 3. making continual 
intercession for us, &c. Heb. vii. 26. Rom. viii. 34. 

It is no less evident, that the Son is God equal with the Fa- 
ther. 1. The names, which are proper to none but the Supreme 
God, are ascribed to him, as I am, or I am that I am, Exod. 
iii. 14. Rev. i. 8. — —Jehovah Exod. xvii. 7. 1 Cor. x. 9. — 
Isa. vi. 1 — 9. Johnxii. 39,40, 41. — Isa. xl. 3, 9, 10. Mat. iii. 
Luke i. 16, 17, 76. iii. — Jen xxiii. 5, 6. xxxiii. 15, 16. 2 Cor. 
v. 21. 1 Pet. ii. 24. iii. 18. — Zech. xii. 10. John xix. 19, 34,37. 
Rev.i. 7. Zech. xi. 12, 13. Mat. xxvii. 9.— Zech. xi. 8, 11. 
Isa. viii. 13, 14. 1 Pet. ii. 6 — 8. Lukeii. 34. Psalm cxviii. 22. 
Mat. xxi. 42. — Isa.xliv. 6. Rev. xxii. 13. — Isa. xliii. 11.2 Pet. 

i. 1. iii. 18. God, Psalm xlv. 6. Heb. i. 8. — Isa. xlv. 22, 23. 

Rom.xiv. 10 — 12. Phil. ii. 9 — 11. — Isa. xxv. 8, 9. 2 Tim. i. 
10 — Isa. xxxv. 4, 5. Mat. xi. 3, 5 — Isa. vii. 14. Mat. i. 23. 
1 Tim. iii. 16. John i. 14. — John xx. 28. 2 Pet. i. 1. Jude 4. 
in which last two texts, as well as in some others, Kai ought 
to be translated even, — Godeven our Saviour — Lord Godeven 
our Lord Jesus Christ. — God, the First and the Last, Isa. xliv. 
6. xli. 4. Rev. i. 8, 17, 18. ii. 8. xxi. 6. xxii. 6, 13, 16, 20. — 
the living and the true God, 1 John v. 20, 21. Rev. i. 18. Jer. 
x. 10. — the great and the mighty God, Tit. ii. 13. Isa. ix. 6. — 
the most high God, Psalm lxxviii. 56. 1 Cor. x. 9. Luke i. 76. — 
the only wise God, Jude 4, 24, 25. Rom. xvi. 27. 1 Tim. i. 16, 
17. — the God of glory. Acts vii. 2. — the only Lord God, Isa. 
xliv. 6. xlv. 15, 22, 23. Rom. xiv. 11. Jude 4. — God over all 
blessed for ever, Rom. ix. 5. — the God of Abraham, Isaac and 
Jacob, Exod. iii. 6. Acts vii. 30 — 32. — the God of Israel, Luke 
i. 16, 17. Mat. iii. 11. Psalm c. 3. John x. 3. xxi. 16, 17. Acte 
xx. 28. 1 Pet. v. 2. — King of kings and Lord of lords, Rev. 
xvii. 14. xix. 13 — 16. 1 Tim. vi. 14, 15. — King of glory, Psalm 
xxiv. 7 — 10. — the Lord of hosts, and the God of the whole 
earth, Isa. liv. 5. John iii. 29. Mat. ix. 15. 2 Cor. xi. 2. — 
Jehovah the shepherd, Psalm xxiii. 1. John x. 2, 16. Heb. xiii. 
20. 1 Pet. ii. 25. v. 4. 2. Such properties or attributes as 



OF THE PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD. 1^9 



belong only to the Most High God, are ascribed to him, as, 
fulness of the Godhead, Col. ii. 9. John xvi. 15. — the 
i (-/ God, and equal with God, Phil. ii. 6. Zech. xiii. 7. 
Heb. i. 3. Col. i. 15. John v. 18. — Oneness with the Father, 
John x. 30. xiv. 9, 10. l John v. 7. — Eternity, Rev. i. 8, 11. 
Prow via, 23 — 31. Mic. v. 2. John i. 1. viii. 58. vi. 62. xvii. 
5. Isa. ix. 6. Heb. vii. 3, 24,25. Rom. xvi. 26. Mark xvi. 15. 
— Unchangeubleness, Heb. xiii. 8. i. 12. Psalm cii. 24 — 27. — 
Almighty power, Phil. iii. 21. Rev. i. 8. xi. 17, 18. xxii. 12, 13, 
20. Isa. ix. 6. lxiii. 1. xlix.26. — Omnipresence, Mat. xviii. 20. 
xxviii. 20. Col. i. 17. Heb. i. 3. John i. 8. iii. 13. — Omni- 
science, John i. 18. ii. 25. iv. 29. xi. 64. xx\. 17. Mat. ix. 4. 

xii. 25. xi. 27. Rev. ii. 23. Heb. iv. 13. Coi. ii. '3. It was 

his created manhood which, during his humiliation, knew not 

the time of the lastjudgment, Mark xiii. 32. Nay, hecould 

not have executed any of his mediatorial offices of prophet, 
priest, or king, unless he had had the perfections of God in him, 

Deut. xviii. 15—18. Mat. xvii. 5. John i. 18 Heb. vii. 25. 

ix. 14. Psalm ex. 4, 5. ii. 6 — 9, 12. 3. The works proper only 
to God are ascribed to him, as decreeing all things, Prov. viii. 
22, 30. Gen. i. 26. Rev. i. 8. John xiii. 18. xv. 16. — creating 
all things, Psalm xxxiii. 6. John i. 3. Eph. iii. 9. Heb. i. 2, 10. 
and hence he is called the beginning of the creation of God, 
and the first begotten of every creature, Rev. iii. 14. Col. i. 15, 
J6. — preserving and governing all things, Col. i. 17, 48. Heb. 
i. 3. John v. 17, 19. — working miracles, in his own person, in 
his own name, and by his apostles as moral instruments, Mat. 
iv. 24, 25. xi. 5. John v. 21, 36. xxi.25. Luke vi. 19. viii. 46. 
x. 9, 10. Acts iii. 6, 16. iv. 10, 29, 30. ix. 34.— erecting a 
church and appointing her officers, Heb. iii. 3, 14. Eph. iv. 11, 
12. Mat. xvi. 18.xxviii f 18—20. — instituting sacraments and 
other ordinances, Mat. xxviii. 19. 1 Cor. xi. 23 — 29. — -redeem- 
ing sinful men, Hos. i. 7. Isa. xlv. 17, 22, 24, 25. Mat. xx. 
28. Acts xx. 28. Tit. ii. 14. — sending the Holy Ghost to ap- 
ply his redemption, John xiv, 26. xv, 26. xvi. 7. — the effectual 
calling of rebellious sinners to himself, John v, 21, 25. x. 16. xv. 
16. — -justifying guilty sinners, Mat.ix.6. Isa. liii. 11.1 Cor.vi. 
11. Col. iii. 13. Rev. i. 5. — adopting men into the family of 
God, John i. 12. Jer. iii. 19. 2 Cor. vi. 18. — sanctifying their 
nature and life, Eph. v. 26, 29. Heb. ii. 11. xiii. 12. ix. 14. — 
the almighty preservationoi them in their gracious state,nature, 
and course, John x. 10,28. xiv. 6. Col. iii. 3. Jude I. — Raising 
himself and. other dead, John ii. 19. x. 17, 18. v. 21, 28, 29. 
Rom. i. 4. 1 Pet. iii. 18.- -Judging the world, bestowing eter- 
nal glory upon his saints, and executing everlasting punishment 
on his wicked enemies, John v. 22, 28, 29. Acts xvii. 31. Heb. 
ii. JO, vii. 25. Rev. iii. 21. 2 Thess, i. 6—10, Rev. xiv. 9- -11. 



140 OF THE PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD. 

4. That divine worship and honour which is due only to the 
Most High God, is ascribed to him, Mat. viii. 2. The same 
worship which is due to the Father, John v. 23. — As faith in 
him, Johnxiv. 1. xvii. 3. 1 Pet. i. 21. Psalm ii. 12. Jer. xvii. 
5. — Supreme love to him, 1 Cor. xvi. 22. John xxi. 15 — 17. 
Eph. vi. 24. Mark xii. 30, 32, 33. — Obedience and subjection 
of soul to him, Exod. xxiii. 21. Psalm ii. 9 — 12. xxii. 7 — 31. 
xlv. 5, 11. Mat. xvii. 5. — Baptism in his name, as equal, and 
one with that of the Father, Mat. xxviii. 19. Acts xix. 5. x. 
48. 1 Cor. i. 13. — Calling upon his name in prayer and praise, 
Heb. i. 6. Phil. ii. 10. Acts vii. 59, 60. 1 Cor. i. 2. Thess. ii. 
16, 17. 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9, 10. Rev. i. 5. v. 9, 13. vii. 10, 12. 

The Son of God became our Mediator, and assumed our na- 
ture ; hence those scriptures which represent him as inferiour 
to God, sent or rewarded by him, or as bearing any character, 
or performing any work not proper to the Most High God, are 
to be understood of him as Man and Mediator, — and there 
are generally other texts almost parallel proving his Supreme 
Godhead, John xiv. 28. 1 Cor. xi. 3. xv. 28. Johnx. 30. Phil, 
ii. 6. Zech. xiii. 7. Mat. xix. 17. (read, there is none good but 
one God) Mark ii. 7. 1 John v. 20. Jude 4. Col. ii. 9. — 1 Cor. 
xv. 24, 28. Luke i. 53. — Acts x. 42. xvii. 31. Psalm 1. 6. vii. 
8. — Acts x. 40. John ii. 13. — John iii. 16. Eph. v. 2, 25. — 
Eph. iv. 32. Col. ii. 13. — John vi. 38. John xx. 28. — Mat. 
xxiii. 9, 10. Isa. ix. 6. Rev. xxi. 7. — Luke xx. 36. John xi. 25. 
— Mark xiii. 32. John xxi. 17 — John i. 18. xiv. 8, 9. — 1 Cor. 
xv. 27. Phil. iii. 20, 21. — Mat. 26, .39. Heb. v. 7, 8.— Mat. 
xxviii. 18. John vii. 16. xi. 41. Isa. xiii. 1. lxi. 1. xlix. 3, &c. 
— As God, he doth nothing but in joint operation with his Fa- 
ther, and nothing but what the Father is interested in, John 
v. 19. — All attempts to prove his inferiority to the Father, 
from his being begotten by him, perhaps proceed from men's 
ignorance of the true nature of human generation, or rather 
chiefly from making animal nature and generation a standard, 
by which they judge cf what belongs to an infinite Spirit, than 
which nothing can be more absurd and blasphemous. 

III. It is sufficiently manifest that the Holy Ghost is a real 
and distinct person in the Godhead. 1 . Personal powers of un- 
derstanding and will are ascribed to him, 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11. xii. 
11. Eph. iv. 3. 2. He is joined with the other two divine per- 
sons as the object of worship and the fountain of blessings, 
Mat. xxviii. 19. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. Rev. i. 4, 5. 1 John v. 7. John 
xiv. 16, 17. xv. 26. xvi. 7. 3. In the Greek a masculine article 
or epithet is joined to his name pneuma, which is naturally of 
the neuter gender, John xiv. 26. xv. 26. xvi. 13. Eph. i. 13, 14. 
4. He appeared under the emblem of a dove, and of cloven 



OF THE TEHSONS IN THE GODHEAD. HI 

tongues*bf fire, Mat. iii. 16. Acts ii. 3, 4. 5. Personal offices 
of an Intercessor, Horn. viii. 26, 27. — a Witness, John xv. 20. 

Heb. x. 15 a Comforter or Advocate, John xiv. 16, 17. xv. 

26. xvi. 7. — a Teacher and Guide, John xiv. 16, 17, 26. xvi. 
13, 14. are ascribed to him. 6. He is represented as perform- 
ing a multitude of personal acts, as teaching, speaking, Mark 
xiii. 11. Acts xxviii. 25. ; witnessing, Acts v. 32. xx. 23. Rom. 
viii. 15, 16. ; dwelling, John xiv. 17. 1 Cor. vi. 19. 2 Tim. i. 14. 
sending of ministers, Acts xiii. 2 — 4. xx. 28. Mat. ix. 38. judg- 
ing what is meet, Acts xv. 28. forbidding, Acts xvi. 6, 7. — As 
from all eternity he acted in the counsels of God, particularly in 
approving the new covenant plan of our redemption, and tak- 
ing his proper share in its execution, so, in time, he acts dis- 
tinctly, though not separately, from the Father and Son, in 
their whole work. — In respect of order, he finished the work of 
creation, Psalm xxxiii. 6. Job xxvi. 13. He qualified Moses, 
Bezaleel, Aholiab, Othniel, Ehud, Barak, Deborah, Gideon, 
and his three hundred soldiers, Samson and others, with un- 
common strength of body*, wisdom, or courage of mind, for their 
respective work, Deut. xxxiv. 7. Exod. xxxi. 3 — 6. Judg. iii. 
10, 15. iv. 9, 14, 21. vi. vii. xiii. — xvi. He inspired the pro- 
phets and apostles with an infallible knowledge of the will of 
God, 1 Pet. i. 11. 2 Pet. i. 21. He endowed Balaam, Caia- 
phas, and others with prospects of future events, Num. xxiii. 
xxiv. John xi. 50 — 52. 1 Kings xiii. 11 — 20. He wrought 
miracles unnumbered by Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Christ, the 
apostles, and others, Exod. iv. — xvii. Num. xvi. xvii. 1 Kings 
xviii. — xx. 2 Kings i. — vii. xiii. Matth. xii. 22 — 28. Heb. ii. 4, 
— He framed the body, and created the soul of Christ in union 
to his divine person, Luke i, 34, 35. He sanctified his man- 
hood, forming it with every gift and grace of which it was capa- 
ble, Isa. xi. 2, 3. John iii. 34. He increased this grace in pro- 
portion to the growing faculties of that manhood, Luke ii. 40, 
52. He solemnly anointed and qualified him for his ministe- 
rial work, Mat. iii. 16. Isa. lxi. 1, 2, 3. xi. 2 — 4. Luke iv. 18. 
John iii. 34. He directed him into and carried him through 
all his temptations from Satan, Mat. iv. 1. He assisted him 
in his working miracles, Mat. xii. 28. and in offering up him- 
self a sacrifice to God, Heb. ix. 14. He raised him from the 
dead, Rom. i. 4. viii. 11. vi. 4. He justified him, as our pub- 
lic Representative, 1 Tim. iii. 16. He filled his manhood with 
heavenly joys, Psalm xiv. 7. Acts ii. 28. By miraculous and 
saving influences, he vindicated him, as perfectly righteous in 
all his conduct, — as the fulfiller of all righteousness for men, — 
and as ascended to his Father's right hand, Acts i. — xix. Luke 

xxiv. 49. John xvi. 7 — 17. xv. 26. He calls men to, and fits 

them with gifts and graces for publick office in jthe church, Acts 



H2 OF THE PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD. 

ji. xiii. 2 — 1. xx. 28. Mat. ix. 38. 1 Cor. xii. xiv. He directs, 
assists, and succeeds them in their work, Acts xvi. 6, 7. Heb. 
ii. 4. 1 Pet. i. 11, 12. 1 Thess. i. 4. Acts viii. 17. x. 44. xix. 

6, 7. Rom. xv. 16, 19. — He convinces men of their sin and mi- 
sery, John xvi. 8, 9. He enlightens their minds in the know- 
ledge of Christ, John xiv. 26. xv. 26. xvi. 13, 15. Eph. i. 17, 
18. iii. 17 — 19. 1 Cor. ii. 10 — 12. He renews their will, John 
iii. 5, 6. Tit. iii. 5. He justifies them, 1 Cor. vi. 11. He sanc- 
tifies them, 2 Thess. ii. 13. 1 Pet. i. 2. Horn. xv. 16. Hecom- 
forts them, John xiv. 16, 26. xv. 26. xvi. 7. Acts ix. 31. He 
directs, leads, and draws them, 2 Thess. iii. 5. John xiv. 16, 
17. Psalm cxliii. 10. Rom. viii. 1,4, 14. Gal. v. 18,25. He 
enables them to mortify their sinful corruptions, Rom. viii. 13. 
He upholds their graces in their spiritual life and courage, 
Psalm li. 11, 12. Gal. v. 18,25. He actuates and enables their 
new nature to bring forth fruits of holiness, Eph. v. 9. Gal. v. 
22, 23. PIzek. xxxvi. 27. He directs and assists them in 
prayer, Rom. viii. 15, 26, 27. Jude 20. Gal. iv. 6. Zech. xii. 
10. He assists them in self-examination, bears witness with 
their spirits, that they are the children of God, — and marks 
them as such by his presence in them, Rom. viii. 9, 16. 1 John 
iii. 24. He, as an earnest, seals them to the day of redemp- 
tion, Eph. i. 13, 14. iv. 30. 2 Cor. 21, 22. . He teaches them 
spiritual mysteries, 1 John ii. 20, 27. 1 Cor. ii. 10 — 12, 15. 
He is vexed and grieved, when his influences are not cherished, 
Isa. lxiii. 10. Eph. iv. 30. 1 Thess. v. 19. He will raise their 
dead bodies at the last day, Rom. viii. 11. 

It is no less evident, that the Holy Ghost is a divine person 
equal in power and glory with the Father and Son. 1. Names 
proper only to the Most High God are ascribed to him, as 
Jehovah, 2 Sam. xxiii. 2. Num. xii. 6. 1 Pet. i. 11. 2 Pet. 
i. 21. — Deut. xxxii. 12. Isa. lxiii. 10. — Isa. vi. 8 — 10. Acts 
xxviii. 25. — Exod. xvii. 7. Heb. iii. 9. — Lev. xvi. 2. Heb. ix. 

7, 8. — Jer. xxxi. 31 — 34. Heb. x. 15, 16.-, God, Isa. lxi. 1. 

Exek. xi. S. Heb. i. 1. — Acts v. 3, 4. 1 Cor. iii. 16. vi. 19. 

2 Tim. iii. 16. 2 Pet. i. 21. The Most High God, Psalm 

lxxviii. 56. Heb. iii. 7, 9. The Lord, 2 Thess. iii. 5. 

Matth. ix. 38. 2 Cor. iii. 17, 18. the conclusion of which may 
be read, " by the Lord the Spirit." 2. Attributes proper only 
to the Most High God are ascribed to him, — as Eternity, Gen. 
i. 1,2. Heb. ix. 14. Omnipresence, Psalm exxxix. 7. 1 Cor. 
iii. 16. vi. 19. 2 Tim. i. 14. Rom. viii. 9. John xiv. 17. Omni- 
science, 1 Cor. ii. 10,11. John xvi. 13. 2 Pet. i. 21. 1 Pet. 
i. 11. JLlmighty power andsovereign dominion, Isa. xi. 2. Luke: 
i.35.Actsvi. 10. Divine holiness, Isa. lxiii. 10, 11. Rom. i.4. 
3. Works competent only to God are ascribed to him, — as creat- 
ing all things, Gen. i. 2. Psalmxxxiii. 6. civ. 30. Jobxxvi. 13. 



OF THE PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD. 

xxxii. 4. JFrWertrfng all things, Psal. civ. .30. Isa. xxxiv. 16'. 
Working miracles, Matth. xii. 28. 1 Cor. xii. 4. Heb. ii. 4. 
Forming Christ's human nature, Luke i. 3J. Jcr. xxxi. 22. 
Anointing Christ, Isa. xiii. 1. xi. 2. lxi. 1. Psalm xlv. 7. John 
iii. 34. and perhaps sending him, Isa. xhiii. 16. Governing the 
church, Matth. ix. 38. Acts vii. 51. xiii. 2, 4. xx. 28. xv. 28. 
Bestowing extraordinary spiritual gifts, 1 Cor. xii. Heb. ii. 4. 
Foretelling contingent futurities, John xvi. 13. Acts xi. 28. 
xx. 23. xxi. 11. 1 Pet. i. 11. Convincing men's consciences of 
their most secret sins, John xvi. 9. Enlightening their mind in 
the knowledge of spiritual things, Eph. i. 17, 18. iii. 16 — 19. 
1 Cor. ii. 10, 12, 15, 16. Justifying Christ and his people, 
1 Tim. iii. 16. 1 Cor. vi 11. Regenerating and sanctifying 
men's hearts, John iii. 5, 6. 1 Cor. iv.. 11. Tit. iii. 5, 6. 2 Thess. 
ii. 13. iii. 5. 1 Thess. iii. 12, 13. 1 Pet. i. 2. Ezek. xxxvii. 
1 — 14. Co mj'orting saints, and preserving them in grace, John 
xiv. 16,26. xv. 26. xvi. 7. Eph. i. 13, 14. iv. 30. 2 Cor. i. 21, 
22. Psalm li. 11, 12. Quickening saints and churches, when 
under fearful degrees of spiritual death, John vi. 63. Rom. 
viii. 2. Ezek. xxxvii. 1 — 14. Rev. xi. 11. and ruising of the 
dead at the last day, Rom. viii. 11. Acts xxvi. 8. 4. Worship 
proper only to God is required and ascribed to him. Prayer to 
him is exemplified. Song iv. 16. Rev. i. 4. 2 Thess. iii. 5. and 
commanded, Matth. ix. 38. Acts xiii. 2, 4. xvi. 5, 7. xx. 28. 
1 Cor. xii. 4 — 11. ii. 4, 11, 12. Solemn appeals are made to 
him, Rom. ix. 1. Deut. vi. 13. Jer. xvii. 10. In his name 
baptism is administered, Matth. xxviii. 19. Church judicatories 
meet and act, Acts xv. 28. xiii. 2, 4. and solemn benedictions 

are emitted, 2 Cor. xiii. 14. The sin which is peculiarly 

committed against him is stated as unpardonable, though the 
worst of those against the Father and Son are not, Matth. xii. 
32. Heb. vi. 4 — 8. x. 26 — 31. 

In all these texts of Scripture, in which something not proper 
to an intelligent and eternal person is ascribed to the Spirit or 
Holy Ghost, his name must be understood as meaning, not 
himself, but his gifts and influences, John vii. 39. Joel ii. 28. 
Acts ii. 17. x. 44. xix. 6. Heb. ii. 4. — And wherever he is re- 
presented as inferiour to, or sent, or given by the Father or 
Son, the text is to be understood of his station or agency in the 
work of our redemption, — of which, with his own choice, he 
is constituted the applier, John xiv. 26. xv. 26. xvi. 7. Ezek. 
xxxvi. 27. 1 John iii. 24. 

The Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son, as well as from the 
Father. 1. He is represented as the Spirit of the Son as well as 
of the Father, Gal. iv. 6. 1 Pet. i. 11. Phil. i. 19. 2. He is sent 
and communicated by the Son, as well as by the Father, John 
xvi. 7, 13—15. xx. 22. Prov. i. 23. But whether he proceeds 



144, OF THE PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD. 

from the Son, precisely in the same manner as from the Father, 
we know not. 

These three divine persons are distinguished from one 
another, 1. By their names of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
Matth. xxviii. 19. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. Mat. iii. 16, 17. 1 John v. 7. 
John xiv. 16, 17. 2. By their order of subsistence; the Father 
the first ; the Son the second ; and the Holy Ghost the third, 
1 John v. 7. Matth. xxviii. 19. But to mark their equality, 
they are sometimes mentioned in a different order, 2 Cor. xiii. 
14. Rev. i. 4, 5. 1 Thess. iii. 5. 3 . By their different order of 
operation. The Father acts from himself through the Son and 
by the Spirit. The Son acts from the Father and bv the Spirit : 
And the Spirit acts from both the Father and the Son, John 
iii. 16. i. 1—3. v. 17, 19. xv. 26. xiv. 26. xvi. 7- 4. By their 
different stations, which, in a delightful correspondence with 
their natural order of subsistence, they have voluntarily assumed 
in the w6rk of our redemption :> — the Father as the Creditor, 
Judge, Master, and Rewarder ; — the Son as the Mediator, 
Surety, Servant, Pannel, &c. ; — and the Holy Ghost as the 
Furnisher, Assistant, and Rewarder of the Mediator, and the 
Applier of the redemption purchased by him, Zech. iii. 8. 
xiii. 7. Isa. xiii. 1, 6, 7. xlix. 1 — 9. liii. 2 — 12. John xvi. 8, 15. 
Eph. i. 17, 18. iii. 16—19. i v . 30. Ezek. xxxvi. 27. 5. And 
chiefly by their personal properties.— The Father is neither 
begotten by, nor proceeds from any other person, but, being first 
in order, he begets the Son, and hath the Holy Ghost pro- 
ceeding from him. The Son is begotten by the Father, and 
hath the Holy Ghost proceeding from him. The Holy Ghost 
neither begets, nor is begotten, but proceeds from both the 
Father and the Son, John i. 14, 18. iii. 16. xiv. 26. Gal. iv. 

4- — 6. 1 Pet. i. 11. To contend that these properties belong 

only to these divine persons, as connected with man's redemp- 
tion, is really to admit the Sabellian heresy, which represents 
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, as but one divine 
person, manifested in three different forms in that work : For, 
if no known differences be admitted, no real distinction of those 
persons can be admitted. If we assert that these properties 
must belong to the redemption-scheme, because they are ordi- 
narily found in near connection with something pertaining to 
it ; we must, for the same reason, give up all the evidences as 
to the true godhead of the Son and Holy Ghost. Mean while 
these properties are so mysterious, that we can no more com- 
prehend or explain them, than we can do the self-existence, 
infinity, and unsuccessive eternity of God. 

To prevent or obviate objections against this deep mystery 
of three distinct persons in one godhead, it may be observed, 



OF THE PERSONS IN THE GODHEAD. 1*45 

1 . That the doctrine concerning it, being unfolded only by 
Revelation, we ought to use as few words as possible concern- 
ing it but such as are scriptural. We are certain that God per- 
I fectly knows himself, though we do not ; and that his expressions 
concerning himself, though we should not understand them, are 
just and safe; whereas those of human invention may be neither ; 
I and may lead us, unawares, into blasphemous views or repre- 
sentations of Him. 2. This doctrine of the Trinity of persons 
in the Godhead, being wholly derived from Revelation, though 
learned men may know better what cannot be true with respect 
I to it, yet they can have no more positive knowledge of it, than 
any diligent searcher of the Scriptures, who is of a moderate 
i capacity. No human learning therefore can, in the least, authen- 
: ticate either apprehensions or expressions concerning it. 3. It 
! being plainly evident from God's own word, that each of these 
three persons is equally the Most High and onlv true God, 
1 no term or phrase must be admitted, in the explication of their 
! personal properties, which can in the least interfere with the 

I divine equality or absolute independence of any of them 

Subordinate Godhead is no Godhead at all, nor any thing but 
a mere chimera in men's brain. By calling the Father the 
fountain of the Deity or of the Trinity, by saying that the 
divine essence is communicated, — or the Son and Spirit are pi 0- 
duced, — or that they have a personal though not an essential de- 
pendence on the Father, learned men have inadvertently hurt 
this mystery, and given occasion for its enemies to blaspheme. 
4. It is certainly absurd to attempt an explication of the per- 
sonal properties, beget, — begotten, — proceeding, — by 
terms which are more unintelligible : and, how to find clearer 
ones, I know not. 5. As God himself hath no where exemplified 
any explication of this mystery of the subsistence of three per- 
sons in one godhead by any similitude drawn from natural things, 
it must in itself be very daring, and very hurtful and darkening 
to the truth, for any man to attempt it. 6. As nothing more 
concerning this mystery can be known or believed, than is 
plainly revealed in Scripture by God, who hath an infinitely 
perfect knowledge of himself, and who cannot lie, the cordial 
belief of this doctrine is very properly required of every adult 
person, as absolutely necessary to salvation. Nor can any man, 
without the belief of it, have any true knowledge of the cove- 
nant of grace, — of the incarnation of Christ, of his satisfaction 
for sin, or of any thing else in the work of our redemption. 
7. The doctrine of the Trinity of persons in one Godhead is so 
far from be'mgmerely speculative, as some pretend, — thatwithout 
the spiritual knowledge of it, no motive to, or exercise of piety 
or virtue, can be rightly understood or practised. — The whole 
of practical religion consists in distinct fellowship with these 

Y 



146 OP TIIEi TERSONS IN Tffte GODHEAD. 

divine persons,. — with the Fathet, in discerning, believing, and 
admiring his love, and in returning it, in grateful desires after, 
delight in, reverence of, and obedience to him ; — with the Son, 
in receiving him, as God-man full of grace and truth, as our 
Head, Husband, and Saviour, in resting on his righteousness, 
and in receiving and improving all his purchased blessings, to 
render us lovers of God and of men for his sake ; — and with 
the Holy Ghost, in preparing for, receiving, co-operating with, 
and improving his personal presence and manifold gracious in- 
fluences, for the sanctification and comfort of our heart, and 
the rendering our life truly pious and profitable. 

PI 
Reflect. Now, O my soul, think what an insignificant 
nothing I am before this infinite, this eternal, this all-mysteri- 
ous God ! — How little a portion I have known or even heard 
of him! — How astonishing, if he be a Saviour, — an Husband, 
i — a God, — an all in all, to mean, — to vile, — to monstrous, 
■ — murderous me ! — Alas, why did, why do I, ever exchange 
this inestimable pearl of great price, — this unbounded treasure 
of godhead itself, — this infinite Lover, nay, Love,— for that 
which is of no, of worse than no value ? — Why despise eternal 
Love, for the sake of a transient shadow ? — of a taste of gall 

and wormwood ? — of vanity and vexation of spirit ? Alas, 

why doth ever my heart turn from him ? Why do my desires : 
after him ever cool or flag ? — Why is my love, my life, ever 
unanswerable to his unchangeable excellency and kindness ? 

When these infinite three are ever with me, — are all ' 

my own, — why am I not always ravished with their loves ? — '. 
Why am I not ever listening to their voice, and pouring out my 
heart into their bosom ? Why doth not my soul talk with them, 

when I sit down, and when I rise up ? Have these honour- I 

ed, these true and faithful, these unchangeable three, bv so- : 
lemn oath, attested and confirmed every promise of the new co- 
venant, that I might have strong consolation and good hope " 
through grace ? Dare I then stagger at the promises through 
unbelief, and not be strong isj the faith, giving glory to God? 

O thrice happy new-covenant state, in which the Father, 

the Son, and the Holy Ghost undertake all for me, — perform 

all for, and in me, — and are all in all to me ! Thrice 

happy heaven, where the glittering vanities of creation shall 
be for ever forgotten, and a three-one redeeming God shall be 
for ever seen, — for ever known, — for ever immediately enjoved 
as my God, and my all in all. 



OF THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. 14? 

CHAP. III. 
Of the Decrees and Purposes of God. 

GOD acts on himself in contemplating, loving, delight- 
ing in himself ; and in the persons of the Godhead knowing, 
loving, delighting in, and consulting with each other, Mat. xi. 
27. Johni. 17. iii. 35. Col. i. 13. Zech. vi. 13. Isa. xlviii. 16. 
But few hints of this agency on himself, except in so far as it ter- 
minates on his creatures, are revealed to us in Scriptures, ■ • 
His agency respecting his creatures including his forming a plan 
of his conduct in his own mind in his purpose or decree, — and his 
execution of that plan in his works of Creation and Providence.. 

Nothing can be more evident, than that God, in his purpose, 
has fixed the whole plan of his works. 1. From the perfection 
of his nature. If his knowledge be infinite and unchangeable, 
he must from eternity have known every thing as perfectly as 
he ever can do in time. If the whole existence, nature, form, 
and every motion or act of every creature, depend on his 
sovereign will, he could have no knowledge how to make and 
manage them but from his own purpose. Abstracting from it, 
they might have been, or notbeen, — might have existed in this, 
or in a thousand other different forms, or conditions. — No plac- 
ing of creatures in any suppbsable circumstances can infallibly 
secure any particular behaviour. — Of the angels who attended 
Jehovah in heaven, some stood fast, and others fell from their 
first estate of perfect holiness and happiness, 1 Tim. v. 21. 
Psal. ciii. 20. Jude 6. 2 Pet. ii'. 4. How many men have, like 
Jacob and Esau, lain in the same womb, even at the same time, 
and had the same patterns and education, and yet their beha- 
viour and their end have been exceedingly different, Gen. xxv, 
— xxviii. Rom. ix. Heb. xii. 15— IT. Mai. i. 2, 4. If God be 
infinitely wise, how could he, in a random manner, commence 
and carry on such an important work, so closely connected with 
an infinitely glorious end ? How could he but so plan-his-work, 
that all the parts of it might harmoniously promote his general 
and particular ends ? If he be of one mind, which none can 
change, he, in his purpose, must have unalterably fixed every 
thing which he effects in his work, Job xxiii. 13. If he be al- 
mighty, no apprehended opposition could deter him from per- 
emptorily fixing his plan ; and no unruly free-will could de« 
feat his intentions. 2. The manifold, marvellous, comely, and 
profitable connections of an infinity of dissimilar creatures, and 
the exact answerableness of each to its respective ends ; nay, all 
the marks of infinite wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, 



148 OF THE DECREES AND I'tmPOSES OF GOD. 

and truth, which are to be found in the works of creation and 
providence, fully manifest, that they have been regulated by a 
fixed plan, which is exactly executed. 3. In Scripture, we 
find God's fixed plan of conduct frequently mentioned under 
fhe'several designations of his will; appointment ; decree; 

PURPOSE ; FORE-ORDINATION ; GOOD PLEASURE ; THOUGHT } 

counsel ; fore-knowledge, Dan. iv. 35. Eph. i. 5, 9, 11. 
Rev. xvii. 17.- — -1 Thess. v. 9. 1 Pet. ii". 8. Acts ii. 23. iv. 

28. Luke xxii. 22,29. Psalm ii. 7. cxlviii. 6. Dan. iv. 17. 

24. Zeph. ii. 2. Jobxxxviii. 10 Rom. viii. 28. ix. 11. Eph. 

i. 9, 11. iii. 11.2 Tim. i. 9. Jer. iv. 28. xlix. 20. Isa. xiv. 24, 

27. xlvi. 10. Rom. iii. 25. viii. 29, 30. ix. 23. 1 Pet. i. 20. 

Mat. xxv. 34. Eph. u 5, 11. Luke xii. 32. Phil. ii. 13. 

2 Thess. i. 11. — Psal. xxxiii. 11. xl. 5. xcii. 5. Isa. Iv. 8, 9. 

•xiv. 24. Jer. xxix. 11. Isa. v. 19. xxviii. 29. xl. 13, 14. 

xlvi. 10, 11. Rom. viii. 29. xi. 2. Acts xv. 18. 1 Pet. i.2. 

4. Nothing more clearly manifests the existence of a divine 
decree, than God's circumstantiated predictions of an infinity 
of future events even the most contingent, and his exact fulfil- 
ment thereof, for almost six thousand years past, Amos iii. 7. 
Mat. viii. 17. John xix. 36, &c. 

The inseparable connection between God's plan and his exe- 
cution of it, with the necessarily exact conformity of the one to 
the other, which his perfections require, his word asserts, and 
his works plainly manifest, render it utterly impossible to offer 
any objection against his decrees, which will not equally mili- 
tate against the actual facts in his works of creation and pro- 
vidence. On this, therefore, we ought particularly to insist in 
answering every cavil against the peremptory nature of his pur- 
pose. If we find it undeniably manifest, that, in his provi- 
dence, he hath permitted sin to enter into, or abound in the 
world ; and that particular persons, by far the greatest part of 
mankind, apparently die in their sins, multitudes of them hav- 
ing never so much as heard of the way of salvation through 
Christ, — how absurd to deny, that God purposed to permit sin 
thus to enter and abound ? — or to contend, that all men are 
equally predestinated to everlasting life ? — or, that Christ died 
equally for them all, in order to purchase it for them ? — If 
thousands of men be dying every day, and thus entering into 
an eternity of inconceivable happiness or misery, how absurd to 
assert, that God, in his plan, hath fixed nothing relative to the 
circumstances or the issue of their death ? — How can we, with- 
out blasphemy, ascribe headlong unconcerted work to the Most 

High ? This inseparable connexion between God's purpose 

and the execution of it, also manifests, that, in both, he must 
carry on the same design of glorifying himself, and doing good 
to his creatures, especially to his Favourite people, Prpv. xvi. 4. 



OF THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. 149 

Rom. \i. 36. ix. 22, 23. viii. 28, 30. Eph. i. 6. Isa. xliii. 3, 4, 

21. xliv. 28. 2 Pet. iii. 9. 1 Cor. iii. 22. God's plan, though 

first in order of natnre, being only manifested to us by his 
word and works, our whole conduct must be regulated by these, 
not in the least by his unknown purpose. 

Every thing which was made in creation, or which happens 
in providence, was fore-ordained in the decree of God in that 
precise form, Acts xv. 18. xvii. 26. Eph, i. 11. Isa. xlvi. 10. 

11. xiv. 24, 27. — the most contingent and wicked not except- 
ed, Gen. 1. 20. xlv. 5, 7. Acts ii. 23, 24. iv. 27, 28. And 
hence so many of them were foretold, Gen: iii. 14 — 19. iv. 12. 
vi. vii. viii. ix. xii. 2, 3, 7. xiii. 15 — 17. xv. 4 — 7, 13 — 21. 
xvi. 10 — 12. xvii. 4 — 8, 16 — 21. xviii. 10, 14, 18. xix. 13. xx. 

12. 13. xxii. 17, 18. xxv. 23. xxvii. 28, 29, 39, 40. xxviii. 
13 — 15. xxxvii. 7 — 10. xl. 13,19. xli. 25 — 32. xlviii. xlix. 
Exod. iii. — xvii. Lev. xxvi. Deut. xxviii. — xxxiii. Josh. i. 
Judges ii. iv. vi. vii. 1 Sam. ii. iii. viii. xiii. xv. xvi. 2 Sam. vii. 

1 Kings ix. xi. xiii. xiv. xvi. xvii. xix. xxii. 2 Kings vii. x. 
xiii. xxi. Psal. ii.xxi. xxii. xlv. xlvii. lxvii. — lxix. lxxii. xlyi. 
— c. ex. exxxii. Isa. i. to Mai. iv. Mat. xxiii. — xxv. 1 Tim. iv. 

2 Tim. iii. iv. 2 Pet. ii. iii. 2 Thess. i. ii. Rev. v. — xxii. 
The form and duration of every man's life, with the time 

and manner of his death, are precisely fixed in the decree of 
God. 1. The Scripture plainly affirms this, Job vii. 1. xiv. 5. 
Acts xvii. 26, 28. Eccl. iii. 1,2. v. 17. ix. 12. Psal. xxxi. 15. 
exxxix. 16. xxxix. 4, 5. 2. God hath frequently foretold the 
manner, the time, and the means of man's life or death, — as 
of the life of Ishmael, Gen. xvi. 12. Isaac, Gen. xvii. xviii. 
Jacob and Esau, Gen. xxv. 23. Moses, Exod. iv. Israelites 
after his death, Deuteron. xxviii.— xxxiii. Samson, Judg. xiii. 
Saul, 1 Sam. viii. ix. x. xiii. xv. Solomon, 2 Sam. vii. 12 — 15. 
Josiah, 1 Kings xiii. 2. ; Cyrus, Isa. xliv. 26 — 28. xlv* 1 — 4, 

13. xlvi. 11. and especially of Christ, Isa. vii. 14. Jer. xxiii. 

5, 6. xxxi. 22. Mic. v. 2. Mai. iii. 1, 2, &c. And of the 

death of the wicked inhabitants of the old world, Gen. vi. 3, 
7. of the Sodomites, Gen. xix. 13, 17. of the murmuring and 
rebellious Israelites, Num. xiv. xvi. of David's infant, 2 Sam. 
xii. 14. of Abijah, 1 Kings xiv. 12. of Ahab and Jezebel, 
1 Kings xxii. 28. xxi. 22, 23, 29. of Ahaziah, 2 Kings i". 4. 
of Belshazzar, Dan. v. 25, 26. of Peter, John xxi. 18. of 
Paul, 2 Tim. iv. 6, 7. of Christ, Luke xiii. 32. xviii. 32, 
33. John vii. 30. xii. 33. xiii. 1. xviii. 1, 13. Psal. xxii. lxix. 
Isa. liii. of Eli's sons, 1 Sam. ii. 34- of David's subjects, 2 Sam. 
xxiv. 15. of Sennacherib's army, Isa. x. xxix. — xxxiii. xxxvii. 
xxx. 27 — 33. of the Jews by the Romans, Isa. lxv. 12. Deut. 
xxviii. 16 — 68. Lev. xxvi. Psal. xxi. 8 — 12. Mat. xxiii. xxiv. 
of the heathen emperours of Rome, and their armies, Psal. ex. 



150 Oi THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. 

5, 6. Rev. vi. 12 — 17. But, to prevent objections, it 

must be observed, l.That men's life is said to be shortened, 
when it doth not extend to an ordinary length, or to that of 
which their constitution seemed capable, Job xv. 32. xvii. 1. 
Psal.lv. 23. cii. 23, 24. Prov. x. 27. Eccl. vii. 17. 2. That 
prolonging of men's life, denotes merely the long enjoyment 
of it, but not any lengthening of it beyond the measure or period 
fixed for it in God's purpose, 1 Kings iii. 14. Exod. xx. 12. 
Deut. iv. 40. xxx. 18. Prov. x. 27. — Hezekiahhad fifteen years 
added to his life, after a mortal disease had threatened his dis- 
solution, — but not one moment added to the time of his life, 
as allotted him in God's decree, Isa. xxxviii. 1, 5. 

All things which come to pass in creation or in providence, 
were decreed by God, 1. From all eternity, Acts xv. 18. All 
of them, in innumerable respects, are connected with our re- 
demption through Christ, which, from all eternity, was pur- 
posed and prepared for by God, 1 Cor. ii. 7. Eph. i. 4. Rom. 
viii. 28 — 32. 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. 2. Most wisely, the most pro- 
per and important ends being fixed, together with all the forms 
and connections of things, in that manner which might best 
promote these ends, Prov. xvi. 4. Rom. xi. 33, 34. Hence 
the decrees are called a counsel, Isa. xlvi. 10, 11. Eph. i. 11. 
Heb. vi. 17. 3. Most absolutely, according to his own good 
pleasure, without any dependence on the free will or agency of 
any creature, as a cause of his purpose, Jer. xviii. 4, 6. Mat. 
xi. 26. Rom. ix. 20, 21. Eph. i. 5, 9. I§a. xlvi. 10. But as 
men's moral behaviour is often a mean for its execution, his 
promises and threatenings in his word, often run in a condi- 
tional form, Isa. i. 19, 20. Lev. xxvi. Deut. iv. — xxx. Ezek, 
xviii. xxxiii. 4. In ajixed and unalterable manner, that every 
thing and every circumstance of it must necessarily happen 
precisely according to the plan of the decree, psalm xxxiii. 
11. cxv. 3. cxxxv. 6. Prov. xix. 21. xxi. 30. Num. xxiii. 19. 
1 Sam. xv. 29. Heb. vi. 17. Eph. i. 9, 11. Acts xv. 18. Mat. 
xviii. 7. 1 Cor. xi. 19. Acts ii. 23, 24. iv. 28. Isa. xiv. 24, 27. 
xlvi. 10. 

The Predestination of angels and men to their everlast- 
ing state of holiness and happiness, or of sin and misery, and 
fixing all the diversified means thereof, are the principal mat- 
ter of the divine decree. — The Scriptures plainly manifest, that 
some, nay many, particular angels, were predestir.ated to 
everlasting holiness and happiness, to the praise and glory of 
God's bounty and love, though, as they sinned not, they were 
not chosen in Christ, nor to salvation, 1 Tim. v. 21. Dan. vii. 
10. Rev. v. 11. Psal. ciii. 20,21.; — and that others were pass- 
ed by, — to be permitted to fall into sin, and continue, and 
more and more abound in it ; and on account of it, to be fo>- 



OF THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OK GOD. 151 

ever justly punished with everlasting destruction, to the praise 
of the glory of his holiness and justice, Mat. xxv. 41. By 
this purpose, as well as by their own sinful corruption and 
guilt, and the curse of God lying upon them on account of it, 
they arc reserved as in chains till the last judgment, Jude 6. 
2 Pet. ii. 4. But the predestination of men, in which we are 
more immediately concerned, is more fully revealed in the 
Scriptures. 

It is not agreed among divines, how God considered men in 
his predestinatingpurpose, — Whether as creatable and fallible; 
or as to be created and to fall ; or as created and fallen; or as 
converted ; or as having persevered in holiness till their death. 
The absurdity of the two last views will hereafter be exposed. 
The difference of the first three views, appears to me to originate 
in men making their own manner of thinking on the point, an 
exact exemplar to that of God's, and to be really reconcileable. 
In God's infinite mind, his whole purpose of predestination is 
but one simple thought, which, by our finite and weak minds, 
may be apprehended in the four following steps : 1. His pur- 
pose of manifesting the glory of his own perfections, particu- 
larly of his mercy and juctice in his dealings with men. In 
respect of this, men can only be considered as creatable and 
fallible. 2. His purpose of creating men and permitting them 
to fall in their common Head, in order to promote or occasion 
the glorification of his mercy or juctice. In respect of this 
step, men must be considered as to be created and to fall. 3. 
His fore-appointment of some particular men for the mani- 
festation of his mercy, and others as objects of the manifesta- 
tion of the glory of his justice. In respect of this step, men 
must be viewed as created and fallen. 4. His fixing the 
proper means for rendering the former vessels of mercy, and 
the latter vessels of his everlasting, but just indignation. In 
respect of this step, men must be considered as chosen or as 

passed by. In these views, Supralapsarians, who reckon the 

objects of predestination, men, as creatable and fallible, or to be 
Created and to fall, — and Sublapsarians, who reckon men as 
created and fallen, to be the formal objects of it, may cordially 
agree. — The glory of God's perfections, as the last end of the 
whole purpose, is first presented to view ; and the decree ap- 
pears as whole and uniform as Supralapsarians need wish. And 
men, as sinners, are shosen to salvation in Christ, as Sublap- 
sarians contend. The above representation also plainly dis- 
tinguishes God's predestinating purpose into its two important 
branches, Election and Reprobation. 

In Scripture we find God electing men to some particular 
office, — Saul, David, and Cyrus, to be kings, 1 Sam. x. 1, 24. 
xv. 17. xvi. 1, 6 — 13. 2 Sam. vii. 8. Psalm lxxviii. 70. Isa. 



152 OF THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. 

xliv. 28. xlv. 1.; — Bezaleel and Aholiab to frame and rear up 
his tabernacle, and Solomon to build his temple, Exod. xxxi. 
2 — 6. 1 Kings v. 5. viii. 19. 1 Chron. xvii. 11, 12. xxii. 9, 
10.; — Aaron and his sons to be priests, Exod. xxviii. Heb. v. 
4.; — the Levites to be ministers of his sanctuary, Num. i. 49, 
50. iii. iv. viii. xvii. xviii. Peter and Andrew, James and 
John, &c. to be his apostles, Mat. x. 1 — 4. John vi. 70. Acts 
ix. 15. Eph. iv. 11. — We also find him electing the whole Is- 
raelitish nation to be.his peculiar people, typical of the gospel 
church, and of his redeemed multitude, Exod. xix. 5, 6. Lev. 
xx. 26. Deut. vii. 6. xvi. 15. xxvi. 18. Isa. xlviii. 10. 1 Pet. 

ii. 9. Rev. vii. 9. But there is also a divine election of some 

men to everlasting life, to the praise of the glory of his grace. 
1 . Some men plainly appear as chosen to more than member- 
ship in the visible church. Eefore the Jewish nation was com- 
pletely unchurched, some of them were a chosen generation, 
while others, according to the determination of God, stumbled 
at Jesus Christ, to their own everlasting ruin, 1 Pet. ii. 8, 9- 
Mat. xxiv. 22, 24, 31. Luke xviii. 7. Rom. ix. 27. xi. 5, 7. 
Isa. viii. 14, 15, 16', 18. Some poor in this world were cho- 
sen, rich in faith, and heirs of the heavenly kingdom, James ii. 
5. 2. Many, who were called by the gospel to salvation in 
their external church-state, were not chosen, while a few 
were, Mat. xx. 16. xxii. 14. 3. Some men are by God re- 
markably distinguished from all others, — as enrolled in the 
Lamb's book of life, and in heaven, Isa. iv. 3. Dan. xii. 1. 
Luke x. 20. Phil. iv. 3. Rev. iii. 5. xiii. 8. xx. 12. xxi. 27.; — as 
separated from this, and pertaining to another world or king- 
dom, John xv. 19. xvii. 9, 16. Mat. xiii. 38. Mark iv. 11. 
Num. xxiii. 9. Isa. xliii. 21. lxiii. 18. 1 Pet. ii. 9. Lukexx. 
35.; — as persons, of whom the Jews, when called children qflhe 

kingdom, are types, Mat. viii. 12. They are represented 

as sprung from another root, and of another race or kindred ; 
being of God, 1 John iv. 4 — 6. v. 19. John viii. 42, 44, 47.; — 
of the light or day, Luke xvi. 8. 1 Thess. v. 5.— from above, 
John iii. 3, 5, 6. viii. 32.; — as subject to another Head, Christ, 
and God reconciled in him, Isa. lxiii. 19. Mat. xxiii. 8, 10. 
John x. 3, 26, 27. vi. 37. v. 40.; — as perfectly secured from 
condemnation, and inseparable from the love of Christ and his 
Father, Rom. viii. 33 — 39. John x. 28, 29. xiii 1. Jude 1. 
2 Tim. ii. 19. Isa. xlix. 15, 16.; — as appointed to salvation, 

1 Thess. i. 4, 5. v. 9. 2 Thess. ii. 13. 2 Tim. ii. 9, 10, 19. 
Mat. xx. 23. xxiv. 31. xxv. 34. Luke xii. 32. and appointed 
to faith as the mean of receiving it, — and hence men believe 
or not, as they are elected to eternal life or not, Tit. i. 1, 2. 

2 Thess. iii. 2. Acts xiii. 48. John x. 26,27. Rom. xi. 7. viii. 
28 — 30. 2 Tim. i. 9. ii. 19. 2 Thess. ii. 13. 1 Thess. i. 4, 5. 



OF THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OP GOD. 153 

——-It was not merely in their posterity, or in their external 
circumstances, but primarily in their persons, as connected 
with spiritual and eternal salvation, that God made a differ- 
ence between Jacob and Esau, and he made Esau's behaviour 
promote the spiritual, if not also the temporal happiness of 
Jacob as well as of his seed, Gen. xxv. 23, 33. xxvii. xxviii. 
xxxii. xxxiii. xxxvi. 6. Mai. ii. 2, 3. Rom. ix. 11 — 13. 

In the decree of election, God doth not fix conditions of eter- 
nal life, and choose such as will fulfil them ; but he sets apart 
particular persons to be infallibly made partakers of eternal 
salvation. 1 . Particular persons, as hath been just stated, have 
their names written in the book of life, Luke x. 20. Rev. xiii. 
8. xx. 12. xxi. 27. Isa. iv. 3, &c. 2. Some men are represent- 
ed as particularly and personally chosen to everlasting life, 
Eph. i. 4, 5, 6. Mat. xx. 16. xxii. 14. John x. 3, 26, 27. xiii. 
18. xvii. 9. vi. 37. Acts xiii. 48. xviii. 10. Rom. viii. 28 — 30. 
w 13, 23. xi. 5, 7. 1 Thess. i.4.v. 9. 2 Thess. ii. 13. 1 Pet. 
i. 2. ii. o. o. Tim. i. 9. ii. 10. 3. The infallible and unalter- 
able connection between election, redemption, and eternal sal- 
vation, necessarily require that those very persons, who are 
actually saved, must have been elected to obtain that salvation, 

Psalm xxxiii. 11. Isa. xiv. 24, 27. xlvi. lO. Rom. viii. 28 

39. ix. 11—13, 23. John x. 15, 16, 27—29. 

God's election of these particular persons is absolute, pro- 
ceeding wholly and only from his own infinitely wise and sove- 
reign will and good pleasure ; and altogether independent on 
their foreseen faith or good works. 1 . The Scripture represents 
his election of them as mei-ely depending on his own will, and 
as purposed in himself, Luke xii. 32. x. 21. Mat. xi. 25, 26. 
Rom. ix. 11—13, 16, 18. xi. 5, 6. Eph. i. 5,9, 11. Deut. vii. 
8. ix. 4. x. 15. 2 Tim. i. 9. 2. God, who chooses them, is ab- 
solutely sovereign in his disposal of his favours, Gen. vi. 5. 
viii. 21. Dan. iv. 35. Isa. lvii. 17, 18. xliii. 24, 25. Rom. v. 
20, 21. ix. 15, 16, 18, 20, 21. Psalm cxv. 3. exxxv. 6. Job 
xxxiii. 13. 3. He could forsee no moral goodness in fallen and 
corrupted men, as moving Him to elect them to everlasting- 
happiness, Gen. vi. 5. viii. 21. Psalm v. 9, 10. xiv. 1 — 4-. Isa. 
lix. 1—15. Rom. i. 21—32. iii. 10— 19, 23. v. 12. viii. 7, 8. Tit. 
iii. 3. Jer. xiii. 23. xvii. 9. Eph. ii. 1 — 3. iv. 17 — 19. xiv. 4. 
xv. 14, 16. Mat. xv. 19. 4. No true faith or holy obedience, 
but what God himself works in them, can be found in any man, 
Phil. i. 29. ii. 13. Eph. ii. 4—10. 2 Thess. i. 11. James i. 17. 
1 Cor. iv. 7. 2 Ccwviii. 5. Isa. xxvi. 12. Psalm lvii.- 2. Now 
God's own work in- time can never be the condition of his 
choosing us before time to eternal life. 5. Our faith and holi- 
ness are the fruits of God's election of us ; and hence can 
never be the cause or condition of it, Acts xiii. 48. 1 Thess. i. 

* Z 



i54, OF T tlE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOf). 

4, 5. 2 Thess. ii. 13. John viii. 47. x. 26, 27. Eph. i.4. 1 Peft 
i. 2. 6. Our faith and {noliness are properly parts of our salva- 
tion largely taken, and evidences that we are in the state and 
begun possession of it. And hence they are not so much as 
proper conditions of salvation, but means of receiving or im- 
proving it, and of preparing for the full enjoyment of it, Tit. 
iii. 5 — 7. Rom. vii. 4. vi. 14. How absurd then to suppose 
them conditions of God's electing us to that salvation ! 7. If 
God's election of men to everlasting life depended on his fore- 
sight of their faith and good works, his redeeming love could 
be no such distinguished favour as the Scripture represents it, 
John iii. 16. 1 John iii. 1. iv. 9, 10, 19. Jer. iii. 19. xxxi. 3. 
Job xxxv. 7. xli. 11. Deut. x. 11. 1 Cor. i. 29. iv. 7. Eph. i. 
6. ii. 7. Rom. ix. 15, 16, 18. v. 8, 20, 21. 8. So far are our 
good works from being the conditions upon which God elected 
us to everlasting life, that the making them procuring causes 
of our salvation is represented as altogether eversive of *J*= 
grace of God therein manifested, Rom. iv. 4. xi. &-«« 16. Gal. 
ii. 21. v. 2, 4. 

Men are chosen by God to everlasting life in Jesus Christ, 
as their representing Head. 1 . Our election is expressly repre- 
sented as in k«", as our new-covenant Head, and the great 
mean of the execution of that decree, Eph. i. 4. iii. 11. 2 Tim. 
i. 9. Tit. i. 2. 2. The effects of our election are all enjoyed in I 
Christ — as redemption, Eph. i. 7. Col. i. 14. 1 Cor. i. 30. Rom. 
iii* 24,25. ; — effectual calling, Phil. iii. 14. — justification, Isa. 
xlv* 24,25. 1 Cor. i. 30* 2 Cor. v. 21. — adoption, Gal. iii. 26. 
— regeneration and sanctification, Eph. ii. 10. 1 Cor. i. 2. 
Acts xxvi. 18. 1 Cor. i. 30. — preservation in grace, Jude 1. 
Col. iii. 3. John xiv. 19. x. 28. xv. 5, 7. — spiritual comfort, 
John xiv. 18. 2 Cor. i. 5. 2 Thess. ii. 16, 17. — and glorifica- 
tion, Rom. viii. 15 — 18. Eph. ii. 6. Isa. xiv. 17, 25. Ix. 19. 
Col. iii. 3, 4. 3. Without supposing our election to everlasting 
life in Christ as our Head^ God's putting our stock of holiness 
and happiness in Adam, as our covenant-head, could not be so 
clearly vindicated, Rom. V. 12—21. 1 Cor. xv. 21,22. — Nor 
does it appear, how we could have been recovered, quickened, 
justified, or sanctified by him, if we had not been chosen ix 
him, Rom. iii. 10 — 26. John v. 25, 26. Acts iii. 15,26. Rom.' 
viii. 1, 2. 1 John v. 12. John xiv. 19. Col. i. 19. ii. 9, 10, 13.; 
Eph. ii. 10. iii. 17, 19. Heb. ii. 12—16. 1 Cor. vi. 17. Tit. iii. ; 

5. But, though we were chosen in Christ as our Head, yet 

his mediatorial office and work are not the cause of our election, 
but only the cause of that salvation which we were chosen to 
obtain. 1. It hath been proved, that our election proceeds from 
the mere sovereign will of God. — It was of his mere free 
favour, that any men were elected to everlasting life. It was 
of his mere good pleasure, that such particular persons, and not 






Or THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. Iff 

o.thers, were elected, Mat. xi. 25, 2G. Luke xii. 32. Rom. ix. 
11 — 23. 1 Cor. iv. 7. i. 25 — 30. 2. While Christ himself is, 
in Cod's electing purpose, chosen us our Head, his mediation, 
is appointed in it, as the mean of executing it, and as the pur- 
chasing, procuring, and applying cause of our salvation therein 
decreed, Isa. xlii. 1 — 7. xlix. 1 — G. 1 Pet. i. 18 — 21. John iii. 
16 — 18. 1 John iii. 5, 8. iv. 9, 10. 3. Christ died for men 
considered as sinful in themselves, but loved of Cod, and 
elected to everlasting life, — that they might obtain it in a 
way consistent with his honour, Mat. i. 21. John x. 10, 14, 
15. xv. 13. Eph. v. 2, 23, 25. Isa. xlix. 3. xlii. 21. 

Men were thus elected in Christ to everlasting life from all 
eleiiiiUj. 1. It hath been proved, that God decreed all things 
from all eternity, Acts xv. 18. 2. Christ was set up as the me- 
diatorial Head of elect men from all eternity, Psalm ii. 7, 8. 
1 Pet. i. 20. Prov. viii. 23 — 31. Mic r v. 2. John xvii. 24. 

3. Elect men were foreknown and chosen to salvation before 
the foundation of the world, Rom. viii. 29. ix. 11,23. Eph. i. 

4. 2 Tim. i. 9. Tit. i. 2. Mat. xxv. 34. Rev. xiii. 8. Jer. xxxi. 

3. 2 Thess. ii. 13. How daring then to give God the lie, 

and contend, that he elects them only in time, at their death, 
&c. as their behaviour deserves ! And how absurd to assert, that 
the beginning from which the Thessalonians were chosen, means 
the beginning of the gospel period. — It is certain, they did not 
hear the gospel, till not a few years after bur Saviour's ascen- 
sion, and the first erection of the gospel church, Acts ii. — xvii. 

God's purpose of election is unchangeable, — none who are 
elected can fall short of the grace or glory decreed for them, 
and none that are not elected can obtain it. 1. No unforeseen 
reason of alteration can occur ; nor can any change happen in 
his own love, power, wisdom, or equity, Acts xv. 18. Psalm 
cxlvii. 5. Isa. xlvi. 10. Mai. iii. 6. James i. 17. 2. The Scrip- 
t are peremptorily declares, that all those very persons that were 
elected, shall obtain that salvation to which they were chosen, 
Rom. viii. 28—39. 2 Thess. ii. 13. 1 Thess. v. 9, 10. iv. 17. 
v. 23, 24. Eph. i. 4. John vi. 37. xvii. 9, 12. Rom. xi. 7. Acts 
ii. 47. xiii. 48. 2 Tim. ii. 19. Isa. xlvi. 10. xlix. 14, 15. xlv.17. 
liv. 8 — 10. Rev. iii. 4, 5. Mat. xxv. 34. Luke x. 20. John x. 

27 — 29. Heb. vi. 17 — 20. But to anticipate objections, it 

must be observed, 1 . That men whose names were never writ- 
ten in the book of life, may have that plainly manifested, Rev. 
xxii. 19. 2. Men may be really blotted out of the book of the 
living on earth, — out of God's comfortable providential care, — 
out of the number of the visible members of his church, — or out 
of temporal life, Psalm lxix. 28. exxxix. 16. lxxxvii. 6. Ezek. 
xiii. 9. Neh. vii. 64. Exod. xxxii. 32. without any blotting them 
out of God's purpose of election to everlasting life. 3. By fre« 



156 OF THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. 

quent and vigorous actings of faith,— by an holy conversation, 
— and by much impartial self-examination, we may render our 
election more certainly evident to our own souls, while we thus 
enjoy the fruits of it, 2 Pet. i. 4 — 10. 1 Thess. i. 4, 5. Eph. i. 
3 — 9. — But nothing can render it more certain and fixed in it- 
self, as a purpose of the unchangeable God, Job xxiii. 13. 
Psalm xxxiii. 11. Isa. xiv. 24, 27. xlvi. 10. Rom. ix. 11. Ktb. 
vi. 17, 18. 

God's decree of election may, therefore, be thus described : 
An act, in which the eternal, unchangeable, infinitely wise, gra- 
cious, powerful, faithful, and sovereign God, intending to 
manifest to men the glory of his own perfections, particularly 
pf his power, wisdom, sovereignty, and free grace, Rom. xi. 33. 
Eph. iii. 10. Mat. xi. 26. xx. 15, 16. Rom. ix. 15, 16, 18 — 23. 
xi. 35, 36. Eph. i. 5, 6. 1 Pet. ii. 9. — hath in his love, fore- 
known and fore-chosen to the enjoyment of eternal salvation 
and all its benefits, Rom. viii. 29, 30. 1 Pet. i. 2. 2 Tim. ii. 19. 
John iii. 16. Rom. v. 8, 21. ix. 13. 1 John iv. 9, 10. Isa. xlv. 

17. 1 Cor. i. 30. — some persons of mankind, — the smaller num- 
ber, — and whom he pleased, — as permitted, or to be permitted 
to fall into sin and misery, from which they could not recover 
themselves, Mat. xx. 16. xxii. 14. 2 Tim. ii. 19. John x. 26 — 
28. xiii. 18. xvii. 6,9, 12. iii. 16. xv. 19. Rom. viii. 29. ix. 16, 

18. v. 8. 10 and hath predestinated them unto fellowship 

with, conformity to, adoption through, and joint heirship and 
eternal happiness in Christ, Eph. i. 3, 4, 5. Rom. viii. 29. — 
and without being, in the least, moved to it, by any foreseen 
qualities or acts of theirs, natural or moral, — hath of his own 
mere will, sovereign grace, and good pleasure, Mat. xi. 25, 26, 
Luke xii. 32. Rom. ix. 11, 15, 16. Eph. i. 5, 6. 2 Tim. i. 9. 
1 Cor. i. 26 — 28. — from all eternity, Mat. xxv. 34. Eph. i. 4. 
2Tim. i. 9. Rev. xiii. 8 — chosen them in Christ as their Head, 
Prov. viii. 23, 31. Eph. i. 4. 2 Tim. i. 9.— in infinite mercy and 
compassion hath unalterably ordained and appointed them to 
be partakers of eternal salvation, life, and happiness through 
him, Rom. ix. 11, 15, 16, 18, 23. 2 Tim. i. 9. ii. 19. Acts xiii. 

48. 1 Thess. v. 9, 10. iv. 17. Isa. xlv. 17. Rom. xi. 29 and 

hath inscribed their names in his book of life, Luke x. 20. Rev. 
iii. 5. xvii. 8. xiii. 8. xx. 12. xxi. 27. Phil. iv. 3. Isa. iv. 3.— 
thus distinguishing them from the rest of mankind, who are 
left to perish in their sinfulness and misery, 1 Cor. iv. 7. Rom. 
ix. 11 — 13. Eph. i. 4. — and hath in that same wise and un- 
changeable counsel, appointed the mediation of Christ, an inte- 
rest in his righteousness, effectual calling, faith, and holiness, 
as means of their obtaining and improving that eternal life, — ; 
that so his inflexible justice and infinite mercy may harmoni- 
ously shine forth therein, John iii. 16, 17. 1 John iii. 5, 8, iv. 



OP THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. 15? 

9, 10. John x. 10, 11, 15, 26—29. xvii. 4, 6, 9. Eph. i. 4. v. 2, 

23 27. Col. i. 19. ii. 3, 9 — 13. 2 Tim. i. 9. ii. 10, 19. Isa. xlv. 

17, 22, 24, 25. Acts xiii. 48. 2 Thess. ii. 13. Rom. iv. 16. Mark 
xvi, 16. Heb. xi. 6. xii. 14. 

Objec. I. " Such a scheme of election renders God a respec- 
" ter of persons, contrary to Acts x. 34. Job xxxiv. 11, 19. 
" Deut. x. 17, 18. 2 Chron. xix. 7. Col. iii. 24, 25. Rom. ii. 
"11. 1 Pet. i. 17." Answ. 1. It no more represents him as a 
respecter of pei'sons than his actual saving of some men, and 
not of any devils, and his giving to some temporal privileges 
or eternal salvation, which he doth not bestow on others as de- 
serving. 2. In his purpose of election, God shews no respect 
to persons on account of their being Jews or Gentiles, poor or 
rich, great or small, in the world, which is the meaning of these 
texts, but acts from his own sovereign love and free grace. 
3. If God should choose or reprobate, save or damn men, as 
their free will is pleased to exert itself, then, indeed, he would 
be a respecter of persons. 

Objec. II. " In the declarations of the gospel, which are an 
f* extract of God's purpose of election, eternal salvation is sus- 
" pended on our faith, sincere obedience, and final perseverance 
" in holiness, Mark xvi. 16. John iii. 16, 18, 36. Rev. xxii. 
" 14. ii. 7, 11, 17, 26, 27, 28. iii. 5, 12, 21. Gal. vi. 9. Mat. 
" xxiv. 13. Rom. ii. 7, 10. Isa. i. 19. iii. 10." Answ. 1. Not 
one of these declarations represents God's electing decree in 
the conditions of its establishment, but merely exhibits the con- 
nexion fixed in it between the different fruits of it, or the parts 
and degrees of salvation. 2. Faith, sincere obedience, and 
perseverance in holiness, are not proper conditions on which 
our eternal happiness is suspended ; but being necessary fruits 
of election, means of, and preparations for happiness, they 
characterize the persons who have been elected and shall be 
glorified, John x. 27 — 29. Acts xiii. 48. 1 Thess. i. 4,5. 2Thes. 
ii. 13. 1 Pet. i. 2. Eph. i. 4. Rom. viii. 29, 30. 

Objec. III. " An absolute, unconditional, and unchangeable 
" election of particular persons to eternal happiness, enervates 
a and renders altogether unprofitable the whole preaching and 
*' ordinances of the gospel, with all the good endeavours of 
" mankind, and encourages them to sloth and wickedness, — 
" for, if they be elected, they will certainly be saved, do what 
" they will ; and if they be not elected they will not be saved, 
" let them do what they can." Answ. 1. As in this decree the 
means of happiness are fixed along with, and inseparably from 
the end, it is highly absurd to contend, that the fixing the end 
will render the means unnecessary or unprofitable. 2. Even in 
the common affairs of life, they who believe that God hath un- 



1S8 OF THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. 

alterably fore-ordained all things which come to pass, are as di- 
ligent in their lawful employments, and as careful to provide and 
use food, raiment, houses, medicine, &c. as others who do not, 

3. No man hath any reason to expect eternal happiness, but in 
the way of a diligent attendance on, and improvement of the 
ordinances of the gospel, public, private, and secret, according 
to his capacity and opportunity, — and of earnest and persever- 
ing endeavours to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord, Rom. 
x. 17. Isa. lv. 1 — 7. Mat. vii. 7, 13, 14. vi. 33. Luke xiii. 24. 
Prov. viii. 17, 34—36. 2 Pet. i. 3 — 11. Heb. xi. 6. xii. 14. 1 Cor. 
xv. 58. 2 Cor. vii. 1 . 4. No man can have any evidence of his 
being elected by God, without an active study of holiness in all 
manner of conversation, 2 Pet. i. 3 — 10. 2 Tim. ii. 19. Eph. i. 

4. Col. i. 22. 2 Thess. ii. 13. 1 Pet. i. 2. 5. Though our dili- 
gent attendance on gospel ordinances, our faith, repentance, or 
new obedience", cannot, in the least, promote God's making 
choice of us, and electing us to eternal life, as that was fixed 
long before we existed, — yet they mightily pi-omote the execu- 
tion of his electing purpose in our actual enjoyment of all the 
benefits of that salvation to which we were, from eternity, 
elected, Phil. ii. 12, 13. 1 Cor. ix. 24—27. xv. 58. Rom. v. 1 — 

5. Psalm xix. 11. lxxxiv. 7, 11, 12. Job xvii. 9. Prov. iv. 18. 
2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. Rev. iii. 7, 12, 21 . 6. It is impossible for men 
cordially to believe the giving, the redeeming, the electing love 
of God, without being thereby delightfully constrained, and 
effectually animated to an earnest care of their salvation, and 
an active study of faith and holiness. Nor are we, the friends 
of unconditional election, afraid to compare practices with our 
oppponents when they please, if they will but admit the ex- 
ceeding broad law of God, in both its tables, to be the rule and 
standard of judgment, 1 Thess. i. 3 — \0. Gal. ii. 19, 20. 2 Tim. 
i. 9. ii. 19. 1 Cor. xv. 10. 1 Thess. ii. 1—10. 

Objec. IV. " An unconditional unalterable election of par- 
" ticular persons of mankind to everlasting life, is inconsistent 
" with the wisdom, goodness, and integrity" of God." Answ. 
1. If God, in providence, bring particular persons of mankind 
to everlasting life, it is but absurd blasphemy to rail at his fixed 
election of them to it in his eternal purpose, as if that -were 
contrary to his nature. 2. If it be consistent with the' perfec- 
tions of God to choose particular angels, and render them eter- 
nally happy, how can it be inconsistent with them, that some 
particular men should be elected and rendered eternally happy ? 
3. Not an imcondithuil, but a conditional election of men is 
manifestly inconsistent with, and disgraceful to God's wisdom, 
goodness, and integrity. His wisdom is infinitely more brightly 
displayed in that election which, without hurting a single crea- 
ture, infallibly secures the salvation of thousands of millions. 






OF THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. 159 

Rev. vii. 9. than in that which leaves matters so loose and un- 
determined, that Christ may die for all men, — intercede to his 
uttermost for them, and bestow all his ordinances upon them, 
and the Holy Ghost, with all his might, strive with each of 
them to no purpose, — their whole happiness depending on die 
proper exertions of their free7ciU,o.carnalmind,enmity against 
God, a heart deceitful aboveall things, and desperately wicked.- 
It is infinitely more kind and gracious, unalterably to purpose 
to exert his almighty power, and other perfections, in order ef- 
fectually to bestow that grace and s loi >-> which are necessary to 
make them for ever holy Bt«j k.ippy, upon unnumbered millions, 
than merely to r«»olvc to give all men an infinitely improbable, 
nav-impr^'ible chance of being happy, — that is, to prepare hap- 
piness for them, upon condition that their desperately wicked 
heart convert itself to believe the gospel, love God, and perse- 
till death in all holy obedience to him ; and meanwhile 
scarcely give the hundredth part of them the smallest hint of 
his proposals. — God in his word hath candidly declared, that of 
the many who are called by the gospel^eic are chosen, and that 
feu) find the way that leadeth to eternal life, while many walk 
in the broad way which leadtih to destruction, Mat. xx. 16. 
xxii. 14. vii. 13, 14. and in Christian countries feiv y very fete, 
bear the characters of saintship marked in his word. — How can 
our affirming that which is so manifest in his word and in his 
providence, be an impeachment of his candour ? — If, in the de- 
clarations of the gospel, he assure men that it is both their duty 
and interest to believe in Jesus Christ for their eternal salva- 
tion, how is it an impeachment of his candour, to maintain 
that this indispensable rule of our duty to him is notnecessari- 
lv the ride of his providential conduct towards us ? — or to main- 
tain, that he cannot inform us of our duty, without divulging 
to us his most secret purposes ? It is time enough for us to 
claim the same rule of conduct with Jehovah, when our free 
will hath transformed our mean and desperately wicked nature 
into true Godhead. 

II. With respect to the reprobation of men, it may be 
observed, I. That God purposed to permit sin. 1. This the 
Scripture expressly affirms, Gen. 1. 20. Acts ii. 23, 24. iv. 27, 
28.; hence, 2. He hath foretold multitudes of evil actions, Gen. 
xv. 16. Deut. xxxi. 16, 20, 29. xxxii. 6, 15 — 21. Isa. i. v. x 
Jer. xxv. Rev. vi. viii. ix. xi. — xiii. 2 Tim. iii. 1 — 6, 13. 
2 Thess. ii. 3 — 12. 3. In time God actually permits much sin, 
Acts xiv. 16. 2 Thess. ii. 9—11. Gen. 1. 20. xlv. 5, 7. Psalm 
lxxxi. 12. Rom. i. 21 — 32. No sin, which hath been, oris in 
the world, can be said to have happened without his foreknow- 
ledge of it, Acts xv. 18. Isa. xlvi. 10, 11. Psalm cxlvii. 5. or. 



160 OF *THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. 

notwithstanding all that his infinite power could have done t« 
prevent and hinder it, Gen. xviii. 14. Jer. xxxii. 17,27. Matth. 
xix. 26. Nay, his permission of it tends to the honour of his 
absolute sovereignty, infinite wisdom, holiness, and justice, — 
and to the advantage of established angels and men. II. God 
in his predestinating purpose, left some men unexpected, to 
perish in their sin, to the praise of the glory of his justice. 
1. The Scriptures plainly declare this, Prov. xvi. 4. (where 
pahhhal, hath made, signifies to appoint, ordain, prepare, Ex. 
xv. 17. Psal. xxxi. 19. ever, as poieo, Markiii. 14. Heb. iii. 2.) 
\ Pet. ii. 8. (where stumbling denotes sinning) Jude4. (where 
krim a, condemnation, denotes the sinful lamp of condemnation 
or what is criminal) John ix. 39. Rev. xiii. 8. 2 Cor. i v . 3 4. 
Rom. ix. 13 — 22. 1 Thess. v. 9. 2Thess. ii. 10 — 12, 13. Vln 
God's providence, which is an exact copy of his decree, Acts 
xv. 18. Isa. xlvi. 10. Eph. i. 11. Psalm xxxiii. 1 1 . multitudes 
appear plainly left to perish in their sin, Matth. vii. 13, 14. 
2 Thess. ii. 10 — 12. i. 8, 9. Rev. xiii. 3, 8. xvii. 17. Psalm 
ix. 1 7. Millions of fallen angels had never a Saviour provided 
for them, Jude 6. 2 Pet. ii. 4. Hundreds of millions of men, 
for many ages, have never been informed of the method of re- 
demption though Christ, Psalm cxlvii. 19, 20. Prov. xxix. 18. 
Eph. ii. 12. Acts xiv. 16. xvii. 30. — The far greater part of 
those that hear the gospel, or at least are called Christains, are, 
by their rejection of it, ripened for hell, Matth xx. 16. xxii. 
14. vii. 13, 14. John x. 26. xii. 39, 40. 2 Cor. iv. 3,4. Isa. vi. 
9, 10. Acts xxviii. 26, 27. Phil. iii. 18, 19. 2 Tim. iii. 1 — 5. 
Rev. xiii. 3, 8. xiv. 9 — 11. III. It follows, that certain parti- 
ocular persons have been, in God's decree, appointed to wrath, 
Mai. i. 2, 3. Rom. ix. 11 — 18. 1 Thess. v. 9. Jude 4. — were 
never favourably known by God, Matth. vii. 23. were never 
appointed or ordained to eternal life, Rev. xiii. 8. xvii. 8. — 
Nay, particular election of some necessarily infers a particular 
reprobation of others. — In which act of reprobation is included, 

1. God's passing by certain persons, leaving them unelected, 
Matth. vii. 23. Rev. xiii. 8. xvii. 8. 2. A pre-appointment of 
them to undergo his just wrath, to be inflicted on them as the 
punishment of their foreseen sinfulness, 1 Thess. v. 9. But it 
must be remarked, that though men's sins be foreseen and 
viewed in God's pre-appointment of them unto wrath, as the 
cause of their condemnation and punishment, yet thev are not 
the cause of his leaving them unelected to perish in their sin ; 
for, 1 . Reprobates are no worse by nature than those that are 
elected, 1 Cor. i. 26, 27. iv. 7. John xiii. 18. Eph. ii. 1 — 3. 

2. Their practice was foreseen as no worse than that of many 
elected persons before their conversion, 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10, 11. 
Eph.ii. 1—13. 1 Tim, i. 13, 16. Tit. ii. 3—6. 3.The wicked- 






OF THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. 161 

58 of unelccted men is represented as die consequence, though 
not the proper effect of their reprobation, 2 Cor. iv. 3. John 
X. 26. xii. 39. 1 Pet. ii. 8, 9. Jude 4. Rev, xiii. 8- 

Reprobation may therefore be described, u A simple act of 
an independent, sovereign, infinitely wise, powerful, righteous, 
and holy God, — whose thoughts are infinitely high, his judg- 
ments unsearchable, and his ways past finding out, Isa. Iv. 9. 
xl. 13. Rom. xi. 33, 34. Psalm xcii. 5. cxlvii.5. — in which he, 
in his eternal and unchangeable counsel, Matth. xxv. 34, 41. 
Rom. ix. 11. Jam. i. 17. Isa. xlvi. 10. Heb. vi. 17. Eph. i. 11. 
Psalm xxxiii. 11. — intending to manifest the glory of his 
absolute sovereignty, almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, 
unconceivable patience, — and particularly of his infinite holiness 
and avenging justice, Rom. xi. 36. ix. 11, 15 — 22. Mat. xx. 15. 
Rom. xi. 33, 34. ii. 4. Isa. v. 4, 16. Prov. xvi. 4. — did, ac- 
cording to his .own good pleasure, purpose in himself, to leave 
many particular men, no worse in themselves than others, — in 
their estate of sin and misery, into which they were to be per- 
mitted to fall, Rom. ix. 6, 7, 11, 15 — 18,29, 21. xi. 20, 21, 
22. v. 12. Eph. ii. 3. Matth. xxiv. 40, 41. ; — and never to know 
them in the way of peculiar regard, or love them with any good 
will, or pity them in order to their effectual recovery, — nor to 
choose, predestinate, distinguish from others, or ordain them to 
eternallife, Matth. vii.23. Rom. viii. 29, 30. ix. 13, 15. Mai. 
i. 2, 3. John xiii. 18. 1 Cor. iv. 7. Acts xiii. 48. 1 Thess. v. 9. 
— or write their names in his book of life, or set them apart for 
his sheep, people, children, or vessels of mercy, John x. 26. Rom. 
ix. 6, 7,23. Hos. i. 6, 9. Mai. iii. 17. ; — and hence purposed to 
withhold from them all his undeserved favours of redemption 
and reconciliation through Christ, — of effectual calling, faith, 
justification, adoption, and sanctification, John x. 15, 26. xvii. 
9. xii. 37—40. Matth. xi. 25, 26. xiii. 11, 13. Rom. viii. 
28 — 33. 2 Thess. iii. 2. Eph. ii. 8. ; — though not from them all 
his favours of common providence, gospel ordinances, spiritual 
gifts, or strivings of the Holy Ghost, by which they are ren- 
dered useful to his elect people, Acts xiv. 17. xvii. 30. Rom. 
ii. 4. ix. 22. Exod. vii. 16, 17. Lev. xxvi. 3 — 13. Deut. xxviii. 
1 — 14. Isa. v. 4. Matth. xiii. 9. xxiii. 37. Heb. vi. 4, 5. x. 26, 
29. 2 Pet. ii. 20,21. 1 Cor. xii. 10. Gen. vi. 3. Isa. lxiii. 10. 
Acts vii. 51.; — and further determined in himself, that they, 
having rendered themselves miserable by their sin, original or 
actual, against law or gospel, — and become abusers or despisers 
of his benefits offered to, or bestowed on them, Rom. v. 12. 
Eph. ii. 1 — 3, 12. Rom. ii. 12, 14, 15. Mark xvi. 16. John iii, 
18, 36. iv. 40. Rom. ii.4,5. xi. 7, 8. Matth. x. 15. xi. 21, 22. 
Jobviii.4.ix.4. Psalm Ixxxi. 13. Acts xiv. i6. — should,— in an 

Aa 



162 OF THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. 

infinitely wise, sovereign, just, and holy manner, answerable to 
their own freedom of will and their rebellious inclinations, Deut. 
xxxii. 4. Psalm xlv. 7. Jer. xii. 1. James i. 13. Matth. xxiii. 
37, 38. John v. 40. viii. 12. Acts vii. 51. — be, for the punish- 
ment of their preceding sins, — spiritually blinded, hardened, 
and given up to strong delusio»s, vile affections, and a reprobate 
sense, Rom. ix. 22. Exod. xiv. 4. John xii. 40. Rom. ix. 15, 
17. xi. 7, 8. i. 24, 28. 2 Thess. ii. 11. Isa. lxvi. 4. ; — and that 
they, persevering in their wickedness, and convicted by their 
own consciences of final impenitence, neither able to blame the 
just severity of God, nor to excuse their own ignorance, or 
their inability to accept of his offered salvation, Matth. xxvii. 
4. Luke xvi. 24. Matth. xxv. 25, 26,44. Rom. ii. 14, 15. i. 20. 
ix. 19, 20. Luke xxii. 22. John v. 40. ; should be eternally 
damned for their sins, Hos. xiii. 9. Matth. xxv. 41, 42. Isa. 
v. 11. Ezek. xviii. 4. Rom. ii. 8,9. vi. 23. Eph. v. 5, 6. Col. 
iii. 6. 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. Gal. v. 19,20, 21. — as vessels of wrath 
fitted to destruction, — children of wrath, — children of perdi- 
tion, — hated of God, — appointed to evil and wrath, — separated, 
and before-ordained to condemnation, Rom. ix. 22. Eph. ii. 3. 
2 Thess. ii. 3. John xvii. 12. Lam. iii. 37, 38. Mai. i. 3. Rom. 
ix. 13. Prov. xvi. 4. 1 Thess. v. 9. 1 Pet. ii. 8. Jude 4." 

This awful doctrine of Reprobation, as well as of the Elec- 
tion of men, ought, with great prudence and holy awe, to be 
taught in the churcb. 1. It hath been proved that the Holy 
Ghost hath plainly taught it in his word, Rom. ix. 11 — 22. 
xi. 1 — 7. 2. Every thing taught in the Scripture, lawfully 
used, tends to promote men's holiness in heart and life, Rom. 
xv. 4. 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17-1 Pet. ii. 1, 2. James i. 21. Psalm 
cxix. 9, 11. 3. Election and reprobation being so closely re- 
lated and contrasted, the former can neither be taught nor con- 
ceived of, separately from the latter. 4. In his providence, 
which every man ought to observe, Psalm cvii. 43. Hos. xiv. 9. 
Isa. v. 12. God copies out his decree of reprobation, in the life 
arid in the death of the wicked, Jude 4. 1 Pet. ii. 8. Isa. xlvi. 
10, 11. Eph. i. 11. Psalm xxxiii. 11. Acts ii. 23. iv. 27, 28. 
i. 16 — 18, 25. Luke xxii. 22. Phil. iii. 18, 19. 5. A proper 
knowledge of this decree promotes right and reverential views 
of the sovereignty, power, wisdom, justice, and goodness of 
God, Matth. xi. 2'6. Rom. ix. 13, 22, 23. Eph. i. 5, 6. 6. The 
doctrine of reprobation, if duly taught, tends to alarm the 
wicked and render their consciences uneasy, till they obtain 
proper evidence that they are not included in it, and to render 
sin terrible to them : — And it excites saints to self-examination, 
and to lively gratitude to God their Redeemer, in a course of 
gospel holiness, Matth. xxv. 41. Rom. i. 18. 1 Thess. v. 9, 10. 
2 Cor. v. 10, 11. Psalm cxvi. 16. Luke i. 74, 75. To 



QF THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. 1(53 

render the whole decree of predestination, as odious as possible, 
our opponents strain every nerve to run down that of Repro- 
bation, which is so unpleasant to men's unrenewed heart. 

Objec. I. " Since the infinite perfections of God's nature 
" necessarily requires, that all men should love and four him, 
" he cannot, in a consistence with that perfection, or even with 
" common candour, lay any of them under an incapacity to do 
" so." Answ. 1. Though the almighty operation of God's grace 
be absolutely necessary to remove men's incapacity of loving 
him, — yet, as his decree, in no respect, forced or drew that in- 
capacity upon them, but they, in their first parents, voluntarily 
contracted it, in direct opposition to his commandment, — and 
do as early as possible personally approve of, and delight in it, 
He can be under no obligation to deliver them from it, espe- 
cially, as his leaving them under it is but the just punish- 
ment of their sin. 2. God's purpose to permit men to fall 
into, or continue under a sinful incapacity of loving and fear- 
ing him, can never be more contrary to his perfection and sin- 
cerity, than his actual providential permission of both devils 

and men to fall into sin and continue in it To suppose that 

his purpose and providence are not perfectly correspondent, is 
to charge him with ignorance in forming his plan, or with folly, 
weakness, and changeableness, in the execution of it, Psalm 1. 21 . 

Objec. II. "God, being infinitely merciful, good to all, his 
" tender mercy over all his works, taking no pleasure in the 
" death of the wicked, but willing that all men should be 
" saved, and come to the knowledge of the truth, Psalm ciii. 8. 
" cxlv. 9. Ezek. xxxiii. 11. 1 Tim. ii. 4. 2 Pet. iii. 9.— -can- 
<c not by an act of his will, fix so many thousands of his ra- 
" tional creatures, who are no worse than others, in sinfulness, 
" or require them to receive his salvation, while their inward 
" corruptions, permitted by himself, render them incapable." 
Answ. 1. By what tie is this infinitely merciful God bound 
to preserve all his rational creatures in this original perfec- 
tion of holiness, whether they will or not? — By what tie is 
he bound to shew favour to one sinner, who hath offended him, 
and sought his life ? — By what tie is he bound to shew more 
favour to sinful men, than to fallen angels, who are his own 
rational creatures of a far higher rank ? 2. What avails that 
infinite mercy, which is supposed to have predestinated all men 
(and why not all devils ?") to everlasting happiness, if it bring 
but a few of them to it, nay, can bring none of them to it, bub 
as their wicked free will pleases ; nay, if it do not so much as 
inform the hundreth part of mankind of the only method of 
their salvation through Christ ? 3. Of the small part of man- 
kind who are properly invited by the gospel as preached, to re* 



164 OF THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. 

ceive this salvation, multitudes, not by any influence of God's 
decree, but by their own self-approved enmity against it, ob- 
stinatelv reject it, John v. 40. Psalm lxxxi. 11. Hos. xi. 2, 7. 
Rom. viii. 7, 8. Jer. xvii. 9. Zee. vii. 11, 12. xi. 8. Gen. vi. 
o. viii. 21. 4. A scheme, which infallibly secures the eternal 
happiness, perhaps of many thousand millions of mankind, is 
infinitely more merciful than one which secures it for none, 
but suspends ah upon the vrojjer exertions of a free will, a car- 
nal mind, enmity against God, — a heart deceitful above all 
things and desperately wicked. — We allow, that even man that 
hears the gospel is warranted, — is solemnly called, and earnest- 
ly entreated by God to believe on Jesus Christ for salvation. 
We allow, that one single act of believing, which is ten thou- 
sand times less than perseverance in faith and holiness till 
death, will render a man's state unalterably happy for evermore. 
— We allow of God's giving, even to reprobates, the largest 
measures and highest degrees of the common influences of his 
Spirit to assist them towards acts of faith. Our opponents 
dare not pretend, that they allow more to their elect, — nay, to 
their choicest saints. — If men's free will can therefore turn the 
scale in their favour, and make them believe in Christ, we allow 
a method of eternal salvation a thousand times more easy to 
reprobates, than our opponents do to any man. 

Objec. Ill- " How can it consist with the infinite wisdom 
" of God, to fix on the objects of his favour or of his abhor- 
u rence, without regard to their moral behaviour as the cause ? 
" — or, to appoint means of salvation for those to whom he 
" hath decreed never to give that which is absolutely necessa- 
** ry to render these means effectual ? — or, to require or expect 
11 the conversion of reprobates, when he himself hinders it by 
" his unalterable decrees ?" Axsw. 1. God abhors no crea- 
ture, but on account of his sin, Gen. i. 31. Psalm civ. 31. It 
would be very unwise in God to fix upon any of mankind as 
his favourites, from respect to their behaviour, since, in then- 
unconverted state, not one of them can do any thing but what 
is abominable to him, in matter or manner, Psalm xiv. 1 — 4. 
Rom. viii. 7, 8. iii. 10—20. Jer. xvii. 9. Eph. ii. 1—3. Tit. 
iii. 3. — But, both his wisdom and sovereignty are highly glori- 
fied in his choosing of many, the most unpromising, that so his 
almighty power .and infinite mercy may the more abundantlv 
slvme forth in his qualifying them for the most familiar fellow- 
ship with himself, and for his service, 1 Cor. i. 25 — 29. 1 Tim. 

i. 13—16. Rom. v. 20, 21. 2. God hath not granted the 

means of eternal salvation to the most of mankind : — nor doth 
his granting them to any exhibit his decree of saving them, but 
the true method of obtaining salvation, and their duty to com- 
ply with and improve it, Mark xvi. 16. Actsxvi. 31. ii. 37 — 



OF THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OP GOD. 165 

39. John iii. 14 — 18. 3. The Scripture never represents God 
I peeling the conversion of" reprobates. To assert that he 
expeetS any tiling which never happens, is to deny his infinite 
wisdom and knowledge. 4. God's requiring from gospel hear- 
ers their proper duty, is his appointed mean of effectually con- 
verting his elect, — even as Christ's calling of Lazarus to come 
forth, and the widow's son and ruler's daughter to arise, was 
his decreed mean of actually raising them from the dead : — 
and mean while it renders reprobates much more useful and 
happy in this world, than otherwise they would be. 

Objf.c. IV. " If God, by a secret and unchangeable act of 
" his will, hath consigned multitudes of mankind to everlasting 
" ruin, how can he, in a consistence with uprightness and sin- 
" cerity, openly declare, that he is not willing that any should 
*' perish, but that all should be saved and come to the know- 
" ledge of the truth, Ezek. xxxiii. 11. 1 Tim. ii. 4. 2 Pet. 
" iii. 9. ? How can he impose a law upon them, to be obeyed 
." under pain of damnation, while he himself is unalterably re- 
" solved to withhold from them all power and ability to keep 
** it ? How can he be serious and earnest in calling men to re- 
f pentance and salvation, if by his own unalterable purpose, 
u he hath rendered both utterly impossible ? How can he pro- 
f fess to wish their welfare, or promise them eternal life upon 
" conditions which are infallibly hindered by his own decree ; 
" — or to offer it to them, upon whom he is unalterably deter- 
" mined never to bestow it ?" Answ. 1. The Scripture never 
declares, that God is inclined to have every individual of man- 
kind, Judas, Antichrist, &c. saved, but the contrary, John 
xvii; 9, 12. 2 Thess. ii. 4, 11, 12. Rom. ix. 22. Now, if one 
be appointed to wrath, it will affect the sincerity of God, in 
the sense of the objection, as much as if it were ten thousand 
millions. 2. We readily grant, that men of all nations, ranks, 
and conditions, are actually saved, than which the Scripture 
never affirms any thing more universal on this point, 1 Tim. 
ii. 4. 2 Pet. iii. 9. Joel ii. 28. John xii. 32. xvi. 9. Rev. 
vii. 9. 3. Be the purpose of God what it will, his holy, just, 
good, and exceeding broad law, binds, and will for ever bind, 
both devils and men to holiness, nay to perfection in holiness ; 
otherwise they could not commit sin, Rom.iv. 15. v. 13. 1 John 
iii. 4. — And, men's attempts to obey it are rewarded in this life, 
or in the next, with, at least, less degrees of punishment, 
Matth. xi. 21 — 24. xii. 41, 42. 4. As, in ordinary cases, no 
man, in this life, can certainly know that he is included in 
God's reprobating decree, — and as it, in no case, lays any re- 
straint or force upon men's will, it cannot be it, but their own 
inward corruption and enmity against God, which hinders their 
care or endeavours to promote their eternal happiness. 5. Most 



166 OF THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. 

of those scriptures, in which God appears to wish men's wel- 
fare, and to promise them happiness on condition of their obe- 
dience, directly relate to the felicity of the Jews in Canaan, 
which they held upon the foot of such reformation and beha- 
viour, as was partly in their own power, without any assistance 
of saving grace, Deut. v. 29. xxxii. 29. Psal. lxxxi. 13. Isa. 
i. 19, 20. Ezek. xviii. 30 — 32. xxxiii. 11. Jer. vi. 8. 6. Spiri- 
tual pardon and salvation are never secured by promise to any 
but such as have true faith, and that not as a proper condition, 
but as a mean of receiving them, — and hence as a fruit of elec- 
tion, 2 Thess. ii. 2, 13. Tit. i. 2. Acts ii. 47. xiii. 48. 7. The 
gospel is so far from declaring that God intends to save all 
men, that it plainly affirms, that he intends to save but the 
smaller part of gospel-hearers, Matth. vii. 13, 14, 15, 23. xx. 
16. xxii. 14. But it peremptorily declares, that Jesus Christ 
is able to save to the uttermost all them that come unto God 
by him ; — that he and his salvation are equally suited to the 
needs of every hearer ; — that, by the gracious appointment and 
infinitely free gift of God, he is the Official Saviour of man- 
kind indefinitely considered, and will in no wise cast out any 
that come to him for salvation ; — that it is the duty and inte- 
rest of all gospel-hearers, as lost and self-ruined sinners, to 
exert all the powers of their soul to the uttermost,,in essaying 
to believe on and receive him and his salvation, as fully, freely, 
earnestly, and indefinitely offered to them ; — that, not knowing 
but they are elected, they all ought, earnestly and repeatedly, 
to attempt this believing, in order to have certain proof that 
they are so ; — that by means of gospel declarations, offers, and 
invitations, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, the adult 
elect are brought into their state of salvation, and many repro- 
bates are qualified with spiritual gifts, which render them 
useful companions and assistants to the elect in this world. 
8. Unless, in providence, God actually should save all men, 
especially all that hear the gospel, which it is manifest he doth 
not, the whole charge of the objection will fall upon him, with 
all its weight, if it have any. 

Objec. V. " It is inconsistent with God's infinite holiness to 
u decree the permission of sin, or to command. men to be holy 
" as he is holy, while, by his unalterable purpose, he renders 
" it impossible for them to be holy." Answ. 1. Let our op- 
ponents reconcile the actual entrance of sin into the world, 
and the long continuance and spread of it, among devils and 
men, with the infinite holiness of an all-wise and almighty 
God, — and all the pretended inconsistency of his decree of per- 
mitting it will evanish of course. 2. Since God's decree of 
reprobation neither inclines nor forces men to sin, and is very 
rarely known to any particular person in this world, it is at 
once extremely uncandid and absurd, repeatedly to contend, 



OF THE DEGREES AND PURPOSES OE GOD. 167 

•that it renders any man sinful or retains him such. 3. Since, 
notwithstanding God's all-wise and almighty government of 
the world, there is very much sin in it, it is manifest, that his 
infinite holiness and nature doth not require him to do his utter- 
most to prevent it, or the ruin of devils or men by means of 
it, — though both it and his wisdom require him to glorify him- 
self by means of sin, if it be permitted. 

Objec. VI. " It is inconsistent with the equity of God to 
w consign innocent persons to eternal damnation, or to im- 
" pose on men a law, which his own purpose renders him in- 
capable of fulfilling." Answ. 1. God hath not decreed to 
inflict damnation upon either angels or men, but as the due 
wages of their sin, Hos. xiii. 9. Ezek. xviii. 4. Rom. ii. 8. 9. 
vi. 23. viii. 13. Psalm ix. 16, 17. 2. If, as hath been repeat- 
edly hinted, God neither tempt, incline, nor force men to 
sin ; — nay, if, by his laws, he solemnly forbid it, and by his 
providence deter and dissuade from it, why may he not justly 
damn men, if they will involve themselves in it ? 3. It is 
highly absurd to imagine, that men's sinful disabling of them- 
selves to obey the law of God deprives him of his right to re- 
quire their obedience ; — that their wickedness strips the Most 
High of his authority over them, and renders them independ- 
ent governors of themselves in his room ; — that sinful igno- 
rance, perpetual drunkenness, or the like, can render blas- 
phemy, hatred of God or men, murder, whoredom, theft, per- 
jury, &c. altogether innocent, and can free men from all obli- 
gation to duty. 

Objec. VII. " As God can reap no advantage by it, it is 
" shocking to suppose, that he fixed upon any of his rational 
" creatures for the manifestation of his mercy or justice, — or 
" that he made Adam, whose fall he foresaw, men's Repre- 
" sentative, — or that he brings any of them into being in or- 
M der to damn them." Answ. 1. Reprobation is in no respect 
founded upon God's imputation of Adam's first sin to his pos- 
terity, but altogether antecedent to it. 2. God's proper end 
in making men andevery thing else was neither their damna- 
tion nor salvation, but his own glory, Js this unworthy of 
him? Rom. xi. 36. Prov. xvi. 4. 3. If God did not from 
eternity foresee what multitudes of angels and men would fall 
into and perish in sin, where was his infinite knowledge, 
Psalm cxlvii. 5. Acts xv. 18. Isa. xlvi. 10.? If he foresaw this, 
and yet created them, as it is certain he hath done, wherein is 
he a whit more benevolent than the above-described decree of 
reprobation admits ? 4. If the actual entrance of sin and 
damnation among angels and men be not shockingly unworthy 
of God, how is it possible that his purpose relative thereto can 
be so ? 



168 OP THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. 

Objec. VIII. " Men in general are called by God to be- 
" lieve the gospel, and to make sure their election, which ne- 
" cessarily supposes that none of them are irreversibly repro- 
a bated." Answ. J. None but the hearers of the gospel, who 
are not perhaps the hundreth part of mankind, are called to 
make sure their election, 2 Pet. i. 10. 2 Cor. xiii. 5. 2. God's 
command to make sure our election, proves that only some, not 
all men, are elected to everlasting life : For, why labour, with 
all diligence, to make sure that which is common to every one, 
as common to their very rational nature ? 3. If men's elec- 
tion be suspended on their final perseverance in faith and ho- 
liness, as our opponents contend, it cannot be made sure in this 
life, nor perhaps in that which is to come. Some angels no 
more persevered in heaven, than Adam did on earth, Jude 6. 
2 Pet. ii. 4. 

Objec. IX. "If faith and holiness be the conditions of 
" men's eternal salvation ; if men's unbelief and impenitence 
" be the conditions of their damnation, they must necessarily 
u be the conditions of that decree which fixes their salvation 
*' or damnation." Answ. .1. Faith, repentance, and new obe- 
dience, are not proper conditions of our salvation ; but proceed 
from our being united to Christ, and interested in him and his 
salvation. They are first fruits of that salvation by which we 
receive and improve begun salvation, and are prepared for 
complete salvation in heaven, Phil. i. 29. Eph. ii. 10. Rom. 
vii. 4. vi. 14. viii. 2. 2. It is extremely absurd to insist that 
the causes of a purpose, and the means of executing it, must 
be the very same. The Jews' murder of Christ was a mean 
of rendering him our atoning sacrifice. Was it therefore the 
cause of God's purpose, to set him forth to be our propitia- 
tion ? Acts ii. 23, 24. iv. 27, 28. Heb. ii. 10. v. 8. Luke xxiv. 
26. John iii. 16. Rom. v. 8. 1 John iv. 9, 10, 19. Paul's per- 
secuting rage, and Onesimus's theft, were occasional means of 
their remarkable conversion to Christ. Were they therefore 
causes of their election to eternal life ? — All things, sins, devils, 
troubles, &c. work together for believers' spiritual and eternal 
advantage, Rom. viii. 28. 2 Cor. iv. 17. Were therefore sins, 
devils, and troubles, the causes and conditions of believers' 
election to spiritual and eternal happiness ? — Can fruit on trees 
be the cause of their root ? or .vater in cisterns, vessels, or 
streams, be the cause of the fountain ? 

Reflect. Having thus reviewed the mysterious purposes 
of Jehovah, think, O my soul ! if even the supposed possibility 
of his having loved me, — having so early loved me, and thought 
on me, in my low estate, — ought not this, in the earliest periods 
of my life, to have excited and animated me to exercise my 



OF THE DECREES AND PURPOSES OF GOD. .169 

utmost care and diligence in improving the gospel method of 
certainly knowing that these things were so ? — Upon the ap- 
prehension of a mere possibility of future existence in this 
world, what thoughts, — what cares, — what labours have I ex- 
ercised about the concerns of it, from time to time ? — Why 
then so few, and these so languid, so lifeless, about things of 
infinitely greater importance ? — things of infinite — of everlast- 
ing consequence ? But, hath the great, the eternal God, 

thought, — always thought on, and loved me ! And have I spent 
so many moments, — so many hours, — so may years of my 
short life, — without thoughts, — without high, fixed, and heart- 
inflaming thoughts of him ? — without love, without superla- 
tive love, without an all-subjecting, — all-assimilating, love to 
him ! Hath the infinite Jehovah, with all his heart, cho- 
sen me to be his vessel of mercy, his jewel, his portion, his 
friend, his ehild, his bride ! Ought not I, if I had ten thou- 
sand hearts, — ought not I, with them all, to choose Him ? — 
Choose Him, who is infinite loveliness and love, for my 
Saviour, my Friend, my Father, my Husband, my God, 

my all ? rPassing by millions, not one of them worse, did 

he set me apart for himself ! And shall not my soul prefer 
him to every trifle ! — -Whom, my infinite all, have I in 
heaven but thee ? what on earth do I, — dare I, desire be* 
sides thee ? — Hath he, in his persons and perfections, so ex- 
erted himself in the establishment of my election, — my eter- 
nal salvation ! — Let me work together with Him, giving all 
diligence to make my calling andelection sure. — Did he choose 
me to holiness, — to love P Let me follow hard after it, as 
a part, a mean of my eternal felicity. — Hath his unchanged 
able purpose infallibly fixe,d me and my everlasting salvation, 
in himself ! — Let me be steadfast, immoveable, alway abound- 
ing in the work of the Lord. — ■ — : — But, Is there a tremendous 
purpose of reprobation ? Break not through, my soul, unto 
the Lord to gaze. But, If I be uncertain with respect to my 
state, let me exceedingly fear and quake. — Let me escape foi? 
my life. Arise, O my sleeping soul! — ciy mightily to thy 
God, thy offered Saviour, that he may think on me, that I 
perish not. Let me give him no rest, till my salvation go 
forth as a lamp that burneth ; till he say, F ear not, I am with 
thee; be not dismayed, 1 am thy God. — I have loved thee roith 
an everlasting love, and therefore with loving-Mndness have I 
drawn thee. — But have I, in God's light, perceived, that he 
hath not appointed me to wrath, but to obtain salvation through 
our Lord Jesus Christ ? — Let me, then, for ever admire,-— for 
ever adore, his sovereign mercy and grace, that left not me to 
perish hrmy sin, when he passed by thousands,— nay, millions 
ef my brethren in iniquity, whose crimes, he foresaw, would 

B b 



170 OF GOD'S EXECUTION OF HIS DECREES 

be fewer, and far less aggravated, than mine. — M »ny, O 
my God, are thy gracious thoughts to me-ward : 
gone above all thought : when I speak of them, they are more 
than can be numbered. 



CHAP. IV. 



Of God's Execution of his Decrees in his Works of Creation 
and Providence. 

GOD'S execution of his decrees includes his giving a being to 
all things in creation, and his upholding and governing that 
being in providence. His work of creation was chiefly per- 
formed by him, without making use of any instruments, in the 
first six days of time. His work of providence, in which he 
employs instruments, hath been, is, and constantly will be, car- 
ried on through all eternity. As his decrees had no beginning, 
the execution of them will have no end. 

I. The world did not exist from eternity. The actual infi- 
nity of the duration of matter or any other finite being, is alto- 
gether inconceivable. The late invention of useful arts ; — the 
short reach of history into past periods of but a few thousand 
years ; — the room on the earth for many more inhabitants, 
though they have been generally on the increase ; — the remain- 
ing heights on the surface of it, notwithstanding they are gra- 
dually washed down by the rain, &c. prove that it cannot be 
eternal. But from Scripture we learn, that it had its beginning- 
little more than 5780 years ago Common sense plainly dic- 
tates, that the world could not make itself, or be formed by a 
fortuitous concourse of atoms. But the Scripture informs us, 
That God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, by the word of his 
power, created all things in six days, — in the most distinct and 
orderly manner, — all very good in themselves, and marvellously 
fitted to answer their respective ends and their manifold con- 
nections, Gen. i. ii. Exod. xx. 11. xxxi. 17. Heb. i. 2. xi. 3. 
Prov. iii. 19. Col. i. 16. Rom. xi. 36. Job ix. 8, 9. xxvi. 
10 — 13. xxxviii. Psalm xxiv. 1, 2. xxxiii. 6 — 9. xcv. 1 — 6. 
cii. 25, 26. civ. 3 — 6, 19, 24. lxxxix. 11, 12.1xxiv. 16, 17. viii. 
1 — 4. cxix. 73, 89, 90, 91. cxlv. 8. cxlvi. 5, 6. c. 3. cxlviii. 
1 — 6. exxxvi. 5 — 9. Neh. ix. 5, 6. Prov. xxx. 4. xvi. 4. Isa. 
xl. 12, 26. xlii. 5. xliii. 5, 15, 21. xliv. 24. xlv. 7, 11, 12, 18. 
xlviii. 13. Ii. 12, 13. lxiv. 8. Jer. x. 11 — 16. v. 22. xxii. 5. 
xxxi. 35. xxxii. 17. Amos iv. 12,13. Zech. xii. 1. John i. 
1 — 3. Acts xvii. 24—26. iv. 24. 1 Pet. iv. 19. Rev.'iv. 11. 






IN HIS WORK OF CKEATION. 171 

Hel). iii. 4. — and that angels in heaven, and men upon earth, 
were the principal creatures which he formed, Job xxxviii. 6, 
7. Psalm ciii. 19, 20, 21. civ. 4. Gen. i. 26, 27. ii. 7, 22. v. 1. 

Angels, properly so called, are spiritual creatures, which 
God formed for his particular attendants and ministers, Psalm 
civ. 4. — These hosts of heaven were created during the first six 
days, Gen. ii. 1. Exod xx. 11. Before that, nothing but ab- 
solute eternity had place, Psalm xc. 2. Prov. viii. 23, 24. Eph. 

i. 4. Mat. xx**34. It is most probable, that they were 

created on the]^*»t dmj, as they praised God when he laid the 

foundations of ihe earth, Job xxxviii. 6, 7. Being creatures, 

they must be finite in their faculties, endowments, and presence, 
Mark xiii. 32. — none of them can be in different places at once, 
Dan. ix. 21 — 23. x. 13, 14, 20. They are represented as now 
either in heaven or hell, Mat. xviii. 10. xxii. 30. 2 Pet. ii. 4. 
Jude 6. 

They are unembodied spirits, endowed by God with a very 
extensive understanding and an active will. And though they 
can assume bodies of condensed air, in which they may appear 
to men, Gen. xviii. 2. xix. 1, 5. xxxii. 1. yet no body is ever 
personally united to their spiritual substance, Psalm civ. 4. 
Heb. i. 7, 14. Eph. vi. 12. Luke xxiv. 39. xx. 35, 36. Col. i. 
16. They have a very extensive knowledge, natural ac- 
quired, or revealed, 2 Sam. xiv. 17. xix. 27. 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2. 
2 Cor. xi. 5, 14. 1 Kings xxii. 23. Dan. vii. viii. ix. x. xi. xii. 
Zech. i. — vi.Rev.i. l.Eph.iii. 10. 1 Tim. iii. 15. 1 Pet. i. 12. 
Their knowledge resembles ours, in their manner of in- 
creasing and exercising it : — and being Unite, it never extends 
to future events which God hath not revealed, — or to the depths 
of divine mysteries, Isa. xli. 22, 23, 26. xlvi. 10. Mark xiii. 32. 
Eph. iii. 10. 1 Pet. i. 12. — nor to any immediate discernment 
of men's thoughts or inward dispositions, 1 Kings viii. 39. Psal. 
exxxix. 2, 4. Prov. xvi. 2. 1 Sam. xvi. 7. Jer. xvii. 10. John 
ii. 25. Acts i. 24. 1 Cor. ii. 11. Rev. ii. 23. 1 Chron. xxviii. 

9. xxix. 17. Their freedom of will, dependent on God, but 

now fixed with respect to the object of its choice, is evidently 
marked in the voluntary obedience of holy angels, and the re- 
bellion of bad ones against God their Maker, Psalm ciii. 20. 
Mat. vi. 10. Luke xv. 7. 1 Pet. i. 12. John viii. 44. Jude 6. 
2 Pet. ii. 4. 1 Pet. v. 8. 2 Cor. ii. 11. xi. 3. 1 Kings xxii. 22. 
The greatness of their power is manifest from express de- 
clarations of Scripture, Psalm ciii. 20. 2 Thess. i. 7. 2 Pet. ii. 
11. Eph. vi. 12. Rev. xviii. 1, 2. from their many mighty ex- 
ploits, — as slaying all the first born of Egypt in one night, Ex. 

xii. 29. Psalm exxxv. 8 killing seventy thousand Israelites 

in a few hours, 1 Chron. xxi. 14, 15. — and an hundred and 



172 OF GOb'S EXECUTION OF HIS BECKEES 

eighty-five thousand valiant Assyrians in one night, 2 King* 
xix. 35. Isa. xxxvii. 36. x. 34. 2 Chron. xxxii. 21. But it is 
Unite, limitedhy God, Job i. 12. ii. 6. Mat. viii. 31. Rom. viii. 
31. — andcannot, by any immediate influence, bow men's hearts, 
Prov. xvi. 1, 9. xxi. 1. Psalm ex. 3. Deut. xxx. 6.; though, by 
impressions and suggestions, they may much influence their 
conduct, Eph. ii. 2. Acts v. 3. Luke xxii. 3, 4. John xiii. 2, 
27. — nor can it perform any thing properly miraculous, Psalm 
Ixxii. 18. lxxxvi. 8. exxxvi. 4. Exod. xv 11. 

Angels are exceedingly numerous, Psalm Ifciii. 17. Deut. 
xxxiii. 2. Mat. xxvi. 53. Jude 14. Dan. vii. TO. Rev. v. 11. 
Mark v. 9. — Their being called armies, firincipalit its, powers, 
thrones, dominions, &c. denotes their orderly arrangement, and 
probably also their difference of rank or station, Gen. ii. 1. 
Col. i. 16. ii. 10. 1 Pet. iii. 22. Eph. i. 22. vi. 12. Col. ii. 15. 
But what their order or ranks are, we know not ; — nor whe- 
therthe name Archangel be ascribed to any but Christ, 1 Thess. 
iv. 16. Jude 9. Dan. xii. 1. Rev. xii. 7. — who is often called 
an Angel, or the Angel — Jehovah, Gen. xlviii. 16. Actsvii. 30. 
Isa. lxiii. 9. Mai. iii. 1. Exod. xxiii. 20, 21. Job xxxiii. 23. 
Gen. xvi. 7,9,10, 11, 13.xviii. 2,17,22. xxii. 11, 12, 15,16. 
xxxii. 24. Hos. xii. 3, 4. Judges ii. 1 — 4. vi. 11, 12, 14, 
20 — 23. xiii. 3, 9, 13, 16, 17, 18—22. Zech. i. — vi. Rev. vii. 
2. viii. 3. x. 1, 5, 9. 

Alltheangels were created in an holy and happy state. 1 . The 
infinite holiness and goodness of God require that every ra- 
tional being be formed in perfect moral rectitude, unless an in- 
cumbent curse, which could not have place here, prevent it, 
Psalm cxix. 68. civ. 31. 2. The finished creation was allrery 

good, Gen. i. 31. — But they were fallible. Multitudes 

of them being chosen by God to be for ever happy in the 
enjoyment of himself, still retain their original knowledge, 
righteousness, and holiness, 1 Tim. v. 21. Dan. vii. 10. Mat. 
xxvi. 53. Rev. v. 11. Psalm lxviii. 17. Deut. xxxiii. 2. Jude 
14. Zech. xiv. 5. Luke ii. 13. Heb. xii. 22. Mat. xxv. 31. vi. 
10.; — and are confirmed by him in their holy and happy state, 
Mat. xviii. 10. xxii. 30.; but not in Christ, whose reconciliation 
by his death they need not, Eph. i. 10. Col. i. 20.; and who is 
not their Mediator, but man's, Isa. ix. 6. Zech. ix. 9. Luke ii. 

11. 1 Tim. ii.-5. Heb. ix. 15. ii. 16. ■ — Though heaven be 

their peculiar residence, in which they are perfectly blessed in 
the full and immediate enjoyment of God, — they are often em- 
ployed on earth; to execute his purposes, Mat. vi. 10. xviii. 10. 
Heb. i. 14. Psalm xxxiv. 7. Their work is, 1. To wor- 
ship God in high praises, suited to their nature and state, Psal. 
cxlviii. 2. ciii. 20,21. Isa. vi. 3. Heb. i. 6. Lukeii. 14. Rev. v. 
11. 2. To minister to, attend upon, and serve Jesus Christ as 



IN HIS WORK OP CREATION. 173 

Mediator, Zech. i. — vi. Mat. iv. 11. Lukexxii. 43. ii. 10, 13. 

' Dan. vii. 10. Psalm lxviii. 17. xlvii. 5, 6. 1 Tim. iii. 16. Acts 

i. 10. Phil. ii. 9, 10. 1 Pet. iii. 22. Rev. i. l.xxii. 16. Heb. i. 

14. 3. To minister to, — protect, admonish, deliver, instruct, 
rejoice over, comfort, and transport to heaven, the saints, and 
to separate them from the wicked at the last day, Heb. i. 14. 
Psalm xxxiv. 7. xci. 11. Gen. xix. 12, 13. xxxii. 1. Actsxii. 
7 — 10. 1 Kings xix. 5. Gen. xxiv. 7, 40. Acts x. 5. Dan. 
vii. — xii. Zech. i. 9 — 14. ii. 3, 4. Acts xxvii. 23, 24. Luke xv. 
10. xvi. 22. Mat. xiii. 41. xxiv. 31. 4. To restrain and punish 
the wicked, Dan. x. 20. Gen. xix. 11. Exod. xii. 39. 2 Sam. 
xxiv. 15, 16. 2 Kings xix. 35. Acts xii. 23. Psalm xxxv. 5, 6. 
. — But it doth not appear, that every particular saint hath a 
particular guardian angel, but angels in general, as directed 
by God, attend them, Psalm xxxiv. 7. Heb. i. 14. Nor will 
the Jews' notion of a guardian angel, if they had it, or an 
angel attending an a])ostle, be any proof, Acts xii. 15. 

But many angels, abusing the freedom of their will, by pride 
or some other sin, quickly fell from that holy and happy state 
in which they were created, 2 Pet. ii. 4. Jude 6. 1 Tim. iii. 6. 
They are real persons, not horrors of conscience. 1. Per- 
sonal qualities, as idles, subtiltij, devising, &c. are ascribed to 
them, Eph. vi. 11, 12. 2 Cor ii. 11. xi'. 3, 14. 2. They tempt, 
lie in wait for, and destroy men, Gen. iii. 1 — 8. 1 Kings xxii. 
22,23. Mat. iv. 1 — 10. 1 Pet. v. 8. John viii. 44. James iv. 7. 
1 Cor. vii. 5. Zech. iii. 1 — 3. Psalm, cix. 6. 3. They believe the 
existence of God, and tremble at it, — and shall be eternally 
punished, James ii. 19. Mat, viii. 29. xxv. 41. Their pun- 
ishment began with the first moment of their sinning, in their 
being expelled heaven and shut up in chains of dakness ; but 
they were not so confined to hell, as to hinder their acting on 
earth, 2 Pet. ii. 4. Jude 6. 1 Kings xxii. 22, 23. Jobi. 7 — 12. 
ii. 2 — 7. Psalm lxxviii.49. Mat. iv. 1 — 10. viii. 29, 31. xvi. 18. 
Eph. vi. 11, 12, 16. 2 Cor. ii. 11. xi. 3, 14. Luke x. 18. Rev. 
xii. 7 — 9. xx. i — 9. — It was increased by the incarnation, 
publick ministrations, and death of Christ, by the spread of 
the gospel, and the erection of the Christian church, Gen. iii. 

15. Col. ii. 15. Heb. ii. 14. 1 John iii. 8. Mat. xii. 43.; and 
will be completed at the last day, Mat. xxv. 41. viii. 29. Rev. 

xx. 10, 14.- —In this world, these fallen angels, or devils, 

exert themselves to their utmost, 1. In taking away the truths 
of God's word from men, particularly in hearing the gospel, 
Mark iv. 15. 2. In tempting, accusing, and molesting the 
saints, Mlat. xvi. 23. 1 Cor. vii. 5. 2 Cor. ii. 10, 11. xi. 3, 14. 
Luke xxii. 31. Rev. xii. 9, 10. Zech. iii. 1 — 3. 1 Thess. ii. 18. 
2 Cor. xii. 7. 1 Pet. v. 8. Rev. ii. 10. xii. 7. 3. In seducing 
the wicked, and retaining them in their corrupt and miserable 



174, OF GOD'S EXECUTION OP HIS DECREES 

estate, John xiii. 2, 27. Acts v. 3. Mat. xii. 43. — leading them 
into errour and delusion, 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. 2 Thess. ii. 9, 10. Rev. 
xx. 3, 8, 10. — or entering into familiar fellowship with them, 
Exod. xxii. 18. Lev. xix. 31. xx. 6, 27. Deut. xiii. 1. xviii. 
10, 11, 14. Isa. viii. 19, 21. Exod. vii. 11, 12, 22. viii. 7, 18. 
Num. xxiv. 1. 1 Sam. xxviii. 7 — 9. 4. In entering into men's 
bodies to render them delirious, furious, &c. 1 Sam. xvi. 14. 
Mat. iv. 25. ix. 32. xii. 22. xv. 22. xvii. 15. Nor, 5. Do we 
know what influence they have in raising storms, producing 
diseases, &c. Eph. ii. 2. Job i. 19. ii. 7. 

Mankind was the other more excellent class of God's crea- 
tures, in which the angelical and animal natures were marvel- 
lously united, Gen. ii. 7. Eccl. xii. 7. Adam and Eve were the 
first of this class, and parents of all the rest, Acts xvii. 26. 

1 Cor. xv. 45. Rom. v. 12. Gen. ii. v. x. 1 Chron. i. The 

parts of their nature were, 1. An erect body of unparalleled 
comeliness, formed to point them out as lords of this lower 
world, under God, and qualified for the contemplation of hea- 
venly things, Psalm cxxxix. 14, 15. Eccl. xii. 2 — 4. Isa. lxiv. 8. 

Gen. ii. 7, 22.- 2. A rational soul, one of which is united to 

every human body, Heb. iv. 12. lThess.v. 23. Gen.ii. 7. Mat. 
x. 28. xvi. 26. 1 Cor. vi. 20. Zech. xii. 1. Psal. xxii. 20. xxxv. 
3. xix. 7. xxv. 1. — It is not in any respect corporeal, but spi- 
ritual, Eccl .xii. 7. Isa. lvii. 16. Luke xxiv. 39. Mat. x. 28. 
Acts xvii. 29. — It is only in a figurative manner, that it is re- 
presented as seen, or as having hands, a tongue, or the like. 

Human souls are not generated by parents, but immediately 
created by God. 1. The souls of Adam and Eve were not formed 
of dust, but immediately created by God, Gen. ii. 7. 2. God 
alone is represented as the father or former of souls, Eccl. xii. 7. 
Isa. lvii. 16. Psalm xxxiii. 15. Zech. xii. 1. Heb. xii. 9. Num. 
xvi. 22. Acts xvii. 28,29. 3. Souls cannot perish along with 
generated bodies, Mat. x. 28. 1 Cor. xv. 42, 53. Luke xii. 20. 
Acts vii. 59, 60. — 4. Souls being indivisible, parents cannot 
communicate any part of theirs to their children in begetting 

them. In Gen. xlvi. 26. and many other places, souls are 

put for human persons, including both soul and body ; or for 

the bodv, Gen. xlvi. 22. Lev. xix. 28. Nor can souls die 

with their bodies, but are immortal. 1. Being not constituted 
of parts, they are naturally incapable of dissolution, Mat. x. 28. 
2. Though their capacities be very extensive, they make small 
improvements in this life, Prov. xxx. 2, 3. Psal. lxxii. 22. 
Phil. iii. 12. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. 3. Men, chiefly saints, have a 
great desire after immortality, Luke ii. 25 — 30. 2 Cor. v. 1 — 8. 
iv. 17, 18. Phil. i. 23. 4. God's justice requires the immorta- 
lity of souls, that they may be punished, or rewarded, in a 



IN HIS WORK OF CREATION. 175 

future state, Eccl. iii. 16, 17. 5. Scripture represents souls as 
surviving those bodies with which they had been personally 
united, Math. x. 28. Eccl. xii. 7. Luke xxiii. 43, 46. xvi. 
22,23. Acts vii. 59,60. Gen. ii. 7. 1 Cor. xv. 15, 18, 19. 1 Pet. 
iii. 19. Rev. vi. 11. Matth. xxii. 32. 2 Cor. v. 1 — 8. Phil. i. 
21, 23. 6. One soul is of inexpressibly more importance than 
the whole world, Matth. xvi. 26 : — It is only in respect of 
their body, that men's death is like to that of beasts, or renders 
them incapable to know things, or to praise God, Eccl. iii. 17. 
20 ix. 5. Psalm xxx. 9. cxv. 17. Isa. xxxviii. 18. — But, this 
immortal soul continues closely united to one person with its 
body, while it is capable of being its residence, Job iv. 19. 
2 Cor. v. 1. Phil. i. 23. 2 Pet. i. 14. Acts xx. 10. 

Man was created after the image of God, in spiritual know- 
ledge, righteousness, and holiness, his mind duly discerning 
every proper object, and his conscience, will, and affections 
awing or inclining him to perform every part of duty towards 
God or his fellow-creatures, Eccl. vii. 29. Gen. i. 26, 27. v. 1. 
Col. iii. 10. Eph. iv. 24. — Even since the fall, men somewhat 
resemble God in the spirituality, intelligence, and immortality 
of their souls, Gen. ix. 6. James iii. 9. But nothing of that 
original moral wisdom, righteousnes, and holiness, in which 
the image of God properly consisted, is to be found in them, till 
it be restored in regeneration, Rom. iii. 23. viii. 7, 8. Eph. v. 8. 
ii. 1 — 3. iv. 23. Col. iii. 10. ii. 11. 2 Cor. v. 17. iii. 18. Acts 
xxvi. 18. 1 Pet. i. 23. 2 Pet. i. 4. — This moral conformity to 
God, though not essential to, or inseparable from, man's soul, 
is called natural, as it was concreated with, and in him, agree- 
able to his nature, necessary to answer God's end in making it, 
and to be conveyed along with it in the propagation of man- 
kind, Gen. i. 31. Eccl. vii. 29. — And the remaining resemblance 
of our soul to God in respect of its spiritual substance and agency 
is still natural, Rom. ii. 14. i. 20. Gen. ix. 6. 1 Cor. xi. 7. — 
But our evil concupiscence, not being from God, cannot be na- 
tural in the primary meaning of that word, — though our nature 
be now infected with it, in its very formation. — Having this 
moral image of God concreated with his whole soul, Adam had 
full ability to have believed on Christ, if he could have been 
exhibited to him in his innocent state, Eccl. vii. 29. And it is 
by this very image of God, imperfectly restored in them, that 
the elect are qualified to believe on, and receive Christ, in the 
day of his power, Eph. iv. 24. Col. iii. 10. 

As God is immortal in, and of himself, 1 Tim. i. 17. vi. 16. 
Isa. lvii. 15. and angels and human souls are immortal in, but 
not of themselves, — man was at first created without any ten- 
dency toward the separation of his soul from his body, or any 
tendency of his body towards death, as the means of that sepa- 



176 01' GOD'S EXECUTION OF HIS DECnEES 

ration. Adam's bodv, though made of dust, and capable of 
becoming mortal, had no seeds of death in it. And hence death, 
in Scripture, is always represented as the fruit and wages of sin, 
Rom. v. 12. vi. 23. 1 Cor. xv. 21, 56. Ezck. xviii. 4. Gen. ii. 

17. iii. 19. Job xxiv. 19. John viii. 44 At his creation, 

man was constituted lord of all other creatures on earth, — to 
manifest which, all the animals, by God's direction, repaired to 
him, and received their names from him, Psal. viii. 6, 7. Gen. 
i. 28. ii. 19, 20. But whether in that state, he had any allow- 
ance to kill any of them for food, we know not. Imme- 
diately after the fall, animals were slain for sacrifices typical of 
Christ, the promised Saviour. But, till after the flood, we 
never find men warranted by God to eat their flesh, Gen. iii. 

21. iv. 4. ix. 3, 4. But as spirituality of nature is retained 

by devils and unregenerate souls, and an immutable immortality 
ofbody awaits damned men after the resurrection, — and do- 
minion over this lower world is partly retained by wicked 
men, — it is manifest, that the image of God, in which man was 
created, did not properly consist in these, but in moral perfec- 
tion, Eph. iv. 24. Col. iii. 10. 2 Cor. iii. 18. 

God's work of creation is to be improved in contemplating, 
as we have access, his creatures, in their almost infinitely di- 
versified natures, qualities, and uses : as, light and celestial lu- 
minaries, in their mysterious nature, extensive range, fit dis- 
tances, rapid motion, and powerful influence : — Air, fixed and 
unfixed, inflammable and uninflammable ; in its fluidity, weight, 
elasticity, and usefulness : — Water, in its fluidity, plenitude, dis • 
persion, saltness or freshness, penetration, and fitness for the for- 
mation of rains, dews, marine productions, and promoting of 
trade :— Earth, stones, metals, moulds, in their adhesion, di- 
visibility, forms, colours, and uses : — Vegetables, in their struc- 
ture, growth, curious parts, manifold uses, and almost infinitely 
diversified forms : — Animals, in their curious parts, their con- 
nected structure, life, dependence on food, motions, instincts, 
fitness for self-preservation, beautiful forms, melodious or awful 

pounds, exquisite but diversified taste : And along with 

these, the unbounded divisibility of matter, laws of attraction^ 
gravitation, electricity, magnetism, and of air, fixed and un- 
fixed, muscular motion, nervous influence; — rational spirits, in 
their power of thinking, willing, recollecting, sociality or 
union with bodies, as proofs of the existence and manifestations 
of the mysterious nature and manifold perfections of God, even 
our God in Christ, Rom. xi. 36. 2. In viewing them as me- 
morials of the operations of God, and as heart-awing means of 
impressing our minds with his presence, observation, and influ- 
ence, Jer. xxxii. 27. Psal. lxxv. 3. In viewing multitudes of . 
creatures, as ins tituted emblems for representing the Most H igh, 



IN ms WORKS OF PROVIDENCE. 177 

in his persons, perfections, stations, relations, and operations, 
in the work of our redemption, Hos. xii. 9, 10. 4. In consi- 
dering all creatures as formed in order to, and fit for subserving 
God's principal and most glorious work of redemption, Rom. 
viii. 28. 5. In taking out a particular new-covenant claim tp 
them all in Christ, as means of our present discernment of the 
glory, and tasting the goodness of God in him, and as pledges 
and earnests of our eternal enjoyment of him as our all in all, 
1 Cor. iii. 21 — 23. Rev. xxi. 17. 6. In, as a consequence of 
all this, using them as means of exciting us to an habitual me- 
ditation on, admiring, adoring, and praising him as our own 
God and portion, and living to his glory \n this world as his 
lower temple or sanctuary. Psalm civ. 1 — 34. cxlviii. 7- In a 
due regard to all creatures, as the fellow production of God, 
«ven our God. 

II. God, by a continued work of providence, upholds and 
governs all things which he created. 1. As he is infinitely more 
perfect than they, and hath brought them into existence, he 
hath an undoubted right, and all-sufficient fitness, to uphold 
and govern them. Having infinite knowledge to discern all 
their qualities and connections, — infinite wisdom to conduct 
them to their proper ends, — infinite power to uphold and manage 
them, notwithstanding all their strength, mischievousness, jar- 
ring passions, instincts, or immediate aims, — infinite holiness 
and equity to prevent culpable partiality or impropriety in his 
conduct, — infinite patience to bear with offenders, while it can 
be for his glory and their good, — and omnipresence, rendering 
him equally near to each of them, he cannot but be infinitely 
tit for this work. 2. His own perfections require him to uphold 
and govern all his creatures. His independency requires him 
to hold all things in perpetual and immediate dependence on 
himself. His wisdom requires him to make all his creatures 
answer the ends for which he formed them. His goodness re- 
quires him never to forsake the work of his hands. Even his 
equity forbids, that they should be brought into being, and then 
left to shift for themselves. 3. Their very nature obliges them 
to a constant dependence on God. They cannot subsist a mo- 
ment without new support from his infinite power, wisdom, 
and goodness. And having formed them to be receivers from, 
not givers to him, his providence must supply them according 
to their necessities, as far as his own glory, the chief end of 
their creation, can permit. 4. The regular motions of the 
heavenly bodies, — the regular ebbing and flowing of the sea, — 
the regular returns of day and night, summer and winter, seed- 
time and harvest, — the periodical retirements of many animals 
<"o places suitable to the season, their sagacity in defending/er 

* Cc 



178 OF GOD'S EXECUTION OF HIS DECREES 

providing for themselves, and in forming their lodgings, hatch- 
ing or nourishing their young, — the near approaches of those 
animals which are useful to mankind, and retirement of hurtful 
ones into woods and deserts, deep or distant places of the sea ; 
— the multiplication of the more useful animals, while noxious 
ones, which are naturally more prolific, are not suffered to 
abound ; — the astonishing variety observable in animals, vege- 
tables*, and other things, seemingly similar ; — the amazing 
diversification of men's faces, voices, tempers, and forms of 
writing, taken as connected with the order and safety promoted 
by it ; — the constant proportion of men and women answerable 
to their circumstances ; — the frequent counterplotting of man's 
most sagacious projects, and defeating his most forcible and 
promising attempts ; — the many miraculous counteractions of 
the ordinary laws of nature ; — and a thousand other like actions, 
irrefragably manifest a Divine Providence managing the world. 
5. The exact correspondence of thousands, I had almost said of 
every event, relative to persons, families, or nations, and espe- 
cially relative to Christ and his church, with the predictions of 
Scripture, plainly demonstrate, that God, the predicter, hath the 
upholding and government of all things in his own hand. 6.The 
Scriptures no less plainly declare that God, Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost, by the agency of his own will, upholds and governs 
all his creatures, John v. 17. Heb. i. 3. Col. i. 17. Job xxxiii. 4. 
Psalm civ. 30. Dan. iv. 34, 35. Rom. xi. 36. Eph. i. 11. Rev. 
iv. 11. Isa. xli. 4. xlv. 5, 6. xlvi. 4, 10 — 13. Job xxxvii. 6. 
xii. 9. xxxviii. — xli. Psalm viii. ix. xix. 1- — 6. xlviii. lxv. 
lxvi. lxviii. lxxviii. ciii. civ. cv. cvi. cvii. cxiv. exxxv. exxxvi. 
cxlv. cxlvi. cxlvii. cxlviii. Ezek. ix. xx. &c. 

In this work of providence God upholds and governs all 
his creatures, and all their actions, Heb. i. 3. Rom. xi. 36. 
Eph. i. 11. Col. i. 17. Isa. xlvi. 10. Rev. iv. 11. 1. All irra- 
tional creatures — animate or inanimate, great or small, Neh. 
ix. 6. Psalm xxxvi. 6. civ. 19 — 21. Dan. iv. 35. Job xxxvii. 
— xli. Psalm viii. civ. cv. cvi. cvii. exxxvi. cxlv. — cxlviii. Hos. 
ii. 18, 21, 22. Ezek. xxxiv. 25. Mat. vi. 28 — 33. x. 28 — 31. 
Exod. viii. 16, 17. x. 12. Deut. xxviii. 28. Joel ii. 20, 25. 
Hence stars and rivers fought as his troops, in destroving 
Jabin's army, Judg. v. 20, 21. ; frogs, flies, and lice, plagued 
the Egyptian oppressors of his people, Exod. viii. — x. ; ser- 
pents punished the murmuring Israelites, Num. xxi. ; hornets 
drove out the wicked Canaanites, Exod. xxiii. 28. ; mice 
plagued the profane and murderous Philistines, 1 Sam. v. 5. ; 
bears and lions executed his vengeance on the profane scoffers 
of Bethel, the disobedient prophets, and idolatrous Samaritans, 
2 Kings ii. 24. xvii. 25. 1 Kings xiii. 24. xx. 36. ; unclean ra- 
vens provided pure food for his favourite, Elijah, 1 Kings xvii. 



IN ins WORKS QF PROVIDENCE. 179 

6. ; pity to cattle partly moved him to dry up the waters of 
the flood, and to spare the city of Nineveh, Gen. viii. 1. 
I John iv. 11. 2. All reasonable creatures, — holy angels, Psal. 
ciii. 18 — 21. civ. 4. Heb. i. 14. — fallen angels, Luke xxii. 31, 
32. 1 Kings xxii. 21, 22, 23. Job i. 12. ii. 6. Psalm lxxviii. 
49. Matth. viii. 28—32. xii. 27,28. iv. 24, 25. Rev. ii. 10. 
xii. 7. xiii. 7. xx. 2, 7 — 10. ; — men, and all their members, are 
written in this book of providential care, Exod. xxxii. 32. 
Psal. lxix. 28. exxxix. 16. xxxiii. 13 — 15. Prov. viii. 15, 16. 
xvi. 1, 9. xxi. 1. Dan. ii. 21, 22, 44., 47. iv. 35. Job xii. 10. 
Acts xvii. 28. He governed the fate of Jacob, a very mild 
man, and his offspring, Gen. xxviii. 13 — 15. ; of Ishmael and 
Esau, very wild men, and theirs, Gen. xvi. 12. xxv. 16, 23. ; — 
the concerns of Jesus Christ, God-man, and his church, which 
is his body, Isa. xlii. 1 — 7. 1. 4. xlix. 1 — 12. liii. Rom. viii. 

28—39. 1 Cor. iii. 21, 22. 2 Cor. iv. 17. Heb. xiii. 5. By 

his providence he managed the haughty and obstinate Egyp- 
tians, Exod. i. — xiv. xviii. 11. ; the oppressed and dispirited. 
Israelites, Gen. xv. 13 — 18. ; the proud and atheistical Syrians, 
1 Kings xix. 15. ; the powerful and furious Assyrians, Chal- 
deans, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, Isa. x. xxx. xxxiii. 
xxxvii. Jer. xxv. 1. Ii. Dan. ii. — xi. Zech. vi. ; the savage 
Tartars and Turks, Ezek. xxxviii. xxxix. Rev. vii. viii. ix. 
xx. ; the crafty, wicked Papists, Dan. vii. xi. 36 — 43. Rev. 
ix. — xix. ; — nay, the whole earth, Isa. xxiv. Psalm xxii. 

27 — 31. His providence extends to men's birth, Job x. 3, 

8 — 12. xxxiii. 4. Psalm exxxix. 14 — 16. xxii. 10. lxxi. 6. ; — 
their manner of life, Gen. xv. 13. xvi. 12. Deut. xxx. 9, 19, 
20. xxxii. 10. Job xii. 10. Psalm lvi. 8. exxxix. 2. cxvi. 9, 
12. lxxi. 17, 18. Prov. xxii. 2. xvi. 9. Isa. xlvi. 3, 4. Mat. x. 
29, 30. ; and their death, Job xiv. 5. John vii. 4. Psal. xxxix. 
5. 1 Sam. xxvi. 10. Jer. xxxiv. 4, 5. xxii. 19. xxxvi. 30. 
3. Ml the actions or motions of his creatures, Isa. xiv. 6, 7. 
Lam. iii. 38. Amos iii. 2, 6, 7. — 1. All natural motions of in- 
animate, or actions of animate creatures, Psalm Ixxiv. 16, 17. 
exxxvi. 8,9. civ. Gen. viii. 21, 22. Isa. Iv. 9, 10. Jer. xxxi. 
35, 36. Matth. v. 46. Job xxxvii. — xii. Hence plants fixed 
between a fruitful and barren soil direct all their roots toward 
the former, — and fishes and fowls, at stated seasons, travel and 

station themselves to their own or mankind's advantage. 

2. All preternatural motions. By his influence the waters 
overflowed the earth, and after they had drowned the ungodly 
inhabitants, were dried up, Gen. vi. 1 — viii. ; — Sodom was de- 
stroyed by fire and brimstone, Gen. xix. 24. ; — Egypt was 
plagued, and the Red Sea and Jordan divided, Exod. vii. — xiv. 
Psal. lxxv. 14, 15. lxxxix. 10. lxxviii. 12 — 14. lxxvii. 14 — 20. 
cxiv. exxxvi. exxxv. cv. cvi. lxxviii. Josh. iii. iv, 2 Kings ii. ; — 



180 OF GOD'S EXECUTION OF HIS DECREES 

manna and quails were rained about the Hebrew camp, and 
water brought from flinty rocks, Exod. xvi. xvii. Num. xi. xx. 
Psalm lxxviii. 15 — 28. ; — the earth swallowed up Korah and 
his companions, Num. xvi. ; — the thunders roared and light- 
nings flashed at Sinai, Exod. xix. xx. xxiv. 16, 17. ; — the sun 
and moon stood still, Josh. x. 12, 13. Hub. iii. 11. ; — the sun 
went backward ten degrees, Isa. xxxviii. 8. ; — a drought of 
forty-two months scorched the land of Israel, 1 Kings xvii. 
xviii. James v. 17. ; — ravens, which feed on carrion, regularly 
provided Elijah with clean flesh, 1 Kings xvii. 6. ; — a whale 
swallowed up Jonah, and after three days landed him in a pro- 
per place, Jon. i. 1 7. ii. 10. ; — an outrageous fiery furnace 
burnt the bonds of Shndrach, Meshach, and Abednego, while 
it did not singe their clothes or hair, Dan. iii. 19 — 37.; — hun- 
gry lions attended Daniel a whole night, without hurting him 
in the least, but furiouslv devoured his accusers, Dan. vi. 22, 
23,24. — 3. All accidental motions, as the slipping of an axe- 
head, — falling of a lot,' — or fixing of a random arrow in the 
fnt of a coat of mail, &c. Exod. xxi. 13. Deut. xix. 5. Prov. 
xvi. 33. 1 Kings xxii. 17, 28, 34. Ezek. xxi. 19 — 27. Jer. Ii. 
16. Psalm cxlvii. 15 — 18. Matth. x. 29. Gen. xxii. 8,13. — 4. 
Alljfrse actions, which depend on men's will, Prov. xvi. 1,9. 
xx. 24. xxi. 1. Jer. x. 23. Phil. ii. 13. Gen. xxiv. 7. xlv. 5, 7. 
1. 20. Isa. xlvi. 10, 11. x. 5 — 7. Acts iv. 28. — 5. All civil ac- 
tions, even the management of armies in the hottest battles, 
Isa. x. 5, 6, 7. Psalm xlvii. 9. Jer. xxxvi. 19, Prov. viii. 15, 

16. Isa. x. xiii. Jer. xlvi. — li. Mic. ii. 13. — 6. All moral ac- 
tions, good or evil, Isa. xxvi. 12. 1 Cor. iv. 7- Phil. ii. 13. 
Jam. i. 17. 2 Cor. iii. 5. Exod. x. 1. Deut. xi. 3, 6. 2 Sam. 
xii. 11, 12. xvi. 10. xxiv. 1. 1 Kings xi. 14, 26. xxii. 22. 
Psalm lxxxi. 12. Isa. vi. 9, 10. xxix. 14. Jer. iv. 10. Ezek. 
xiv. 9. xx. 25, 26. Rom. i. 24 — 28. ix. 17. xi. 8, 32. 2 Thess. 
ii. 10, 11, 12. In respect of his operation about these crea- 
tures and their actions, his providence may be distinguished 
into his natural, miraculous, moral, and peculiar providence. 

God's natural dispensation of providence includes, 1. His 
upholding all creatures in their existence and particular forms, 
and in their powers of action, motion or passion, — and in the 
actions or motions themselves, Job xii. 10. Heb. i. 3. Col. i. 

17. Rev. iv. 11. Neh. ix. 6. Psalm xxxvi. 5, 6. cxlv. 15, 16. 
cxlvii. 8, 9. Matth. vi. 26 — 30. 2. His government of them, — 
which includes, 1. His fixing certain laws or rules, called or- 
dinances of heaven, covenant ivith day and night, or the like, 
according to which he ordinarily regulates his influence, Jer. 
xxxi. 35, 36. xxxiii. 25. Psalm cxix. 90, 91. 2. His co-ope- 
rating with, and directing the motions of his creatures, ac- 
cording to these stated rules and his own purpose. Gen. viii. 



IN HIS WORKS OP PROVIDENCE. 181 

22. ix. 11. Isa. x. 15. Jar. x. 23. Psalm lxxiv. 16, 17. cxv. 3. 
Acts xvii. 28. 1 Cor. xii. 6. Eph. i. 11. Isa. xlvi. 10, 11. Dan. 

iv. 35. In this he applies his creatures to act, — and on such 

particular objects, — and in sucli a nutniirr, Isa. x. 5. Ezek. xxi. 
21 — 23. Job i. 12. ii. 6. Acts i. 20. Exod. xxi. 12, 13. 1 Kings 
vxii. 34. ; and he accurately directs them to their proper ends, 
Prov. xix. 21. xvi. 1, 9. xxi. 1. Gen. xlix. 10. 

In his ordinary managements of providence, God allows se- 
cond causes to have their full influence, and acts in, and by them 
agreeably to their nature as inferiour agents or instruments in 
his hand: — But his co-operating influence or concourse 'is not 
iiureiy general, fixing a particular impression upon second 
causes, and then leaving them to move and act of their own ac- 
cord ; but it is particular with every particular creature, and 
producing every particular motion or act, in its particular form. 
J. The Scripture represents God as exerting particular in- 
fluences, — in giving victories, Psalm xxxiii. 16. xviii. 43. cxliv. 
1. ; — in giving direction or satisfaction, Psalm xiii. 1 — 5. ; — in 
sending Joseph into Egypt, Gen. xlv. 5, 7. 1. 20. ; — in employ- 
ing the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Persians, as his rod, axe, 
hummer, and host, Isa. x. 5, 15. xiii. 14. Jer. Ii. 22, 23. And 
some'times his terror, falling on their enemies, procured victory 
or deliverance for the Jews, Judg. vii. 14 — 22. 2 Chron. xiv. 
11 — 14. xx. 22, 23. 2 Kings vii. 6. How absurd to imagine, 
that all these were owing to impressions made upon certain 
atoms, at the creation ! 2. If God only made a general impres- 
sion of whatever kind on things, at the first, all things must 
now be carried on by necessity of nature, independent of his 
will ; — and either that impression necessarily produced sin in 
angels and men ; or they, in sinning, have counteracted his al- 
mighty influence impressed. 3. Such a general concourse ex- 
empts his creatures from all continued dependence upon him 
in their operations, while they are allowed to depend upon him 

in their existence, Acts xvii. 28. Prov. xvi. 1, 9. xxi. 1. 

But concerning this divine co-operation, 'it must be observed, 

1. It is not any power transmitted from God to his creatures, 
in order to move them ; but an agency of his own will, by 
which he makes second causes to act, when and how he pleases. 

2. The acting of God, and that of his creature upon which he 
acts, are not separable, or different, but he makes it to act, not 
by its own independent energy, but by the influence of his will. 

3. No creatures are left to determine the influence of God's con- 
course with them, as they please, as the nature of the objects 
upon which the sun shines, determines his influence to melt, 
harden, scorch, or fructify them, &c. — If they were thus left to 
determine it, his agency would be subjected to theirs, and tl 
would do more in an action than he did ; — he could be no 
more the author of good than of evil ; no decree could be 



182 OF GOD'S EXECUTION OF HIS DECREES 

certain of execution, or any prediction, promise, or threaten- 
ing, of fulfilment. 4. The agency of God's will in order of 
nature, not of time, must always precede that of his creature, 
in every motion or act, Rom. xi. 36. 

God's mirac.uj.ous providence is that in which his agency 
surpasses, or is contrary to the influence of second causes, and 
stated rules of his common operation ; — as in stopping the 
course of the sun, — dividing seas,— raising dead persons, — or 
giving sight to such as were born blind, 8cc. — God does not ex- 
ert more power in working miracles, than in common provi- 
dence, but merely suspends his ordinary influence, or counter- 
acts the natural or common influence of second causes. — And 
herein no creature can be any more than a moral instrument of 
declaring the will of God, by some word or token, that such a 
miracle should be wrought. If we consider the infinite wis- 
dom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, truth, and majesty of 
God, we may, in real miracles, expect, 1 . That the moral in- 
struments will make no fantastick or absurd application to su- 
periour powers. In working miracles, Christ and his prophets 
and apostles never did any thing but what was exceedingly 
simple, as pronouncing a few proper words, touching the ob- 
jects, stretching out a rod towards it, &c. which imported an au- 
thoritative declaration of God's will. 2. As it would be un- 
worthy of God to perform an almighty operation for no, or even 
an insignificant end, every miracle may be expected to answer 
some very important end. 3. As it would be unworthy of 
God's wisdom, goodness, and infinite majesty to work mira- 
cles merely to manifest his strength, they must also tend to 
vindicate his holiness, equity, goodness and truth ; — and hence 
none bid fair to be ordinarily moral instruments in working 
them, but men sound in their religious principles, and holy and 
virtuous in their practice. 4. That the miraculous operations 
shall be so many and so openly wrought, that both friends and 

enemies will have full opportunity to try their reality. 

Counterfeits of miracles may be performed, 1. By the powers 
of second causes unknown to common people, as in electrici- 
ty, natural magic, &c. 2. By deceitful sleight of hand, 
which imposes on the sight of the beholders. 3. By diaboli- 
cal impressions on matter, or on men's mind, making them 

think or speak in an uncommon manner. Of these kinds 

are the boasted miracles of papists. But those of the Egyp- 
tian magicians were the most extraordinary. Nor can we 
certainly tell how they were wrought : — whether by some Sa- 
tanical perturbation of the air, imposing on the sight of the 
spectators ;• — or by Satan's moving the rods-m the manner of 
serpents, and at the same time perturbing the air, to make them 
seem real serpents ; — or by indiscernibly removing the rods, 
and placing real serpents in their stead. — But it is certain, that 






IN HIS WORKS OF PROVIDENCE. 183 

these magicians' apparently-transformed rods were swallowed 
up by the really transformed one of Aaron, and that their other 
pretended miracles did not remove but enlarge the punishment 
of their country. 

God's moral providence is that by which he manages the 
morally good or evil dispositions and actions of his reasonable 
creatures. It, in general, includes, 1. His establishing for 
them a law to be the rule and standard of their disposition and 
behaviour towards him, themselves, or their fellow creatures 
correspondent with his perfections and will. 2. His influence 
on them relative to their good and evil dispositions, thoughts, 
words, and deeds. — This influence, though infallibly efficacious, 
never interferes with the real liberty of rational creatures. 
1. Except in miracles, God always acts on second causes an- 
swerably to their nature. 2. The liberty of rational beings 
doth not lie in any indifferent bent towards good and evil; 
otherwise neither God nor men, nor angels, ever did, or can 
have it; but it lies in a power of acting with knowledge and 
inclination, without being forced by any other. 3. Though God 
often bend their will to that which he wills and commands, he 
never puts any force upon the will of any. Nay, indeed the 
will cannot properly be forced. 

In good actions, 1. God upholds men's natural powers of 
acting, and the gracious dispositions which he hath implanted in 
them. 2. He presents to them objects, which are calculated to 
move them to the good action which he intends they should per- 
form. 3. He removes or restrains such objects or influences as, 
he knows, would hinder that action. 4. By his word he com- 
mands and encourages them to act in such a particular good mat- 
ter and manner. 5. By his Spirit he influences their heart and 
corrects their indisposition. 6. He bends their mind and affec- 
tions toward the reasons, which enforce the good actions. 7. He 
makes them feel a peculiar pleasure in such a particular form of 
acting. Thus, in alms-giving, 1. He furnishes a man with 
somewhat to give. 2. He presents a needy object to him. 
3. He restrains such thoughts as might make him overlook or 
conceive harshly of that needy object. 4. He impresses on 
his mind the scriptural exhoi"tations and motives to charity. 
5. He powerfully excites his pitvand compassion. 6. He fills 
his mind with pleasure in resolving on or bestowing his alms. 

In sinful actions God permits them ; and herein, 1. He for- 
bears doing that which would hinder them : — he doth not de- 
prive the actors of life, of sight, of reason, or the like, as 
Exod. xiv. 28. Gen. xix. 11.2 Kings vi. 18, 19.; — he doth not 
oppose superiour force to their inclination or power to commit 
the sinful deed : — he does not remove out of their way or hand 
the occasions or instruments of such a sin: — he does not stir up 



184 OF GOD'S EXECUTION OF HIS DECREES 

in their mind such thoughts of the wickedness and danger of 
the sin as would deter them from it : he does not cure their ig- 
norance by spiritual instruction, nor their malice by renewing 
their heart, nor their sloth and unconcern, by awakening fesq 
and care in their soul. 2. As, in every rational act, there is 
something naho-ur, moral, and injlneniiiil; soinevery sinful adt 
there is something natural, which renders it the opposite of no- 
thing, — a moral flhcouformihj to God's law, and an influential 
tendency to hurt the agent or others. — In the first and last of 
these, God actually concurs by his co-operating influence ; he 
produces what is natural in the act with which the sinful dis- 
conformity to his law is cpnnected ; — and he makes that act 
tend to the hurt of the actor, if not also of its object. 3. He 
excites in men's mind thoughts which, though good or indif- 
ferent in themselves, their inward corruptions improve to a 
wrong purpose. Thus Joseph's brethren improved their re- 
membrance of his father's love to him, and of his dreams, to in- 
flame their hatred and rage against him, Gen. xxxvii. — and the 
Jewish rulers improved their thoughts of Christ's success and 
esteem among the people, and of his raising Lazarus from the 
dead, to animate and increase their malice and fury against 
him, John xi. 47 — 57. 4. He, in a holy manner, lays before 
them opportunities of sinning. Thus the Babylonish garment 
and wedge of gold were laid before Achan, Josh. vii. 21. Bath- 
sheba washing herself before David, 2 Sam.xi. 2. This pre- 
sentation of the occasion or object neither binds, nor inclines, 
nor forces men to commit sin ; — nor doth God present them 
for promoting it, but for the glory of his own perfections, — and 
frequently to punish men for some former wickedness, or to dis- 
cover their wicked inclinations to themselves' or others. 

Though, in consequence of such permission, the sinful act 
infallibly happen, the sinfulness of it is not in the least charge- 
able on God. For, 1. He influences his rational creatures 
precisely according to the freedom of their own will. 2. Though 
he produce that which is natural in the act with which their 
sinfulness is connected, yet that sinfulness of the act or discon- 
formity to his law proceeds wholly from their self-corrupting 
or self-coiTupted abuse of the inward freedom of their will. 
Thushatred, as a natural affection, is good, and from God ; but 
the direction of that hatred in opposition to God himself is sin- 
ful, and proceeds not from his permission or precourse, but 
from the corrupted disposition of him that hates him. 3. Sin 
ought carefully to be considered as not only an offence to God 
and breach of his law, but also as a just punishment of preceding 
sinfulness. It is in the latter respect that God's provi 
hath a most remarkable conci rn in the permission of it, in blind- 
ing the mind, and hardening the heart of sinners, Rom. xi. 7, 



IN HIS WORKS OF PROVIDENCE. 185 

8. 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. iii. 14. 2 Thess. ii. 9 — 12. Isa. lxiii. 17, 

E\od. iv. 21. vii. 3,14,22. In blinding men's minds, 1. God 

permits them to conceive such thoughts as occasion or lead to 
errour and'mistakc. 2. He gives them up to the seduction of 
Satan and his instruments, 1 Kings xxii. 21, 22, 23. 1 Cor. iv. 
3, 4. 2 Thess. ii. 9 — 12. Acts v. 3. John xiii. 2, 27. 3. Out- 
ward providences appear to enforce their temptations, Psalm 

lxxiii. 2 — 15. Jer. xii. xx. Job i iii. 2 Thess. ii. 9 — 12. Rev. 

xi. 2. xiii. 4. They are left to themselves, to abuse, to con- 
trary purposes, every thing which might tend to their instruc- 
tion or conversion, John vi. 64 — 66. x. 30 — 40. Acts vii. 54. 
xxii. 22. xxvi. 24. 5. The powerful working of their inward 
wickedness disposes them to believe or not believe things, as 
best answers to promote its reign in their heart, Jer. xliii. xliv. 
6. They take all the outward prosperity which they meet with 
in their evil course, as a token that God is well enough pleased 
with them in it, Rom. ii. 4. Deut. xxxii. 15, 16. Jer. xliv. 17, 
18. 7. If they meet with outward calamities, they either over- 
look them, or view them as produced by mere natural causes, 

Isa. xxvi. 11.2 Chron. xxviii. 22. Jer. v. 3. Isa. i. 8. In 

hardening men's heart, 1. God justly withholds his grace, 
which would effectually soften it, Hos. iv. 17. Rev. xxii. 11. 
2. He withdraws that common grace, or even in part that special 
grace, which had once softened it, Isa. lxiii. 17. 3. He per- 
mits their sinful lusts to prevail and rage without any remark- 
able restraint, Psalm lxxxi. 11,12. 4. He permits them to 
fall among wicked companions, who, by their example, instruc- 
tion, or influence, encourage them in sin, Judg. xi. 4. 1 Kings 
xii. 10, 11. Prov. ix. 6. xiii. 20. xxviii. 19,24. 5. He heaps 
outHtard favours upon them, which occasionally increase their 
pride, atheism, and sinful unconcern, Luke xii. 16 — 20. xvi. 19. 
Job xxi. 14, 15. Ezek. xvi. 49. Deut. xxxii. 15. Luke xviii. 
24, 25. Psalm lxxiii. 5—9: Isa. v. 11, 12. Hos. xiii. 6. 6. He 
either forbears to afflict them, or afflicts them very slightly ; or 
the time, manner, or instrument of their afflictions is such, that 
their corrupt heart despises them, rages against them, or im- 
proves them as excitements to sin, Isa. i. 5. Jer. v. 3. 2 Kings 
vi. 33. 2 Chron. xxviii. 22. 7. By Satanical or other influence, 
their conscience is restrained from reproving them, or is so 
ignorant or biassed, that it calls evil good and good evil, 
Gen. vi. 3. Hos. iv. 17. Isa. v. 18 — 23. xxx. 10. Ezek. xiii. 10, 
22. Mai. ii. 17. Mic. ii. 11. • 

The above account of God's blindingmeri'smindandharden- 
ing their heart, may be illustrated from the instance of Pha- 
raoh, king of Egypt. 1. God, by exalting him to an high sta- 
tion, afforded him an opportunity of remarkable pride. 2. H$ 
withheld from him that gracious influence, which would havfc 

Dd 



186 OP GOD'S EXECUTION OF HIS DECREES 

humbled his heart, and rendered him obedient and willing to 
let the Israelites go. 3. He sent him peremptory orders to 
allow them to depart, which, on account of his claim to them, 
and of the messengers he sent to demand their liberty, and 
perhaps also on account of their throng of work, tended to irri- 
tate the spirit of the proud king. 4. His mandate was deliver- 
ed in such a form as could lead Pharaoh to reason upon it in 
this manner : " If the God of the Israelites be more powerful 
" than I, why should he request my dismission of his people ? 
" And if he be weaker, why should I submit to his will, in a 
" point so exceedingly detrimental to my kingdom ?" 5. A 
biassed consideration of the messengers, who made the demand 
in God's name, tempted him to suspect that the Israelites were 
too idle, or cherished some superstitious whim, if not a sedi- 
tious design.- 6. The first miracles which Moses and Aaron 

wrought were but objects of sight, and did no hurt. 7. The 
magicians' ready counterfeits of these first miracles, natively 
tempted him to look on the whole as a diabolical farce, and 
Moses and Aaron as jugglers. 8. The distinguished safety 
of the Israelites and their property under the several plagues 
inflicted on .his kingdom, tended to irritate his proud spirit. 

9. The easy, sudden, and often repeated removals of the plagues, 
tempted his proud, carnal, and wicked heart to despise both 
plagues and deliverances. 10. The miracle which his magi- 
cians could not counterfeit, being seemingly more insignificant 
than those which they had, might tempt him to think that Jeho- 
vah could inflict no worse plagues than had already happened. 

1 1 . Moses's peremptory refusal to leave a single beast belong- 
ing to his enslaved nation, when he granted them allowance 
to go off themselves, was very provoking to his proud spirit. 

12. The Israelites carrying off the Egyptians' gold and silver, 
strongly tempted his haughty and covetous heart to purs.ie 
them. 13. Their travelling to the south-east, where they were 
miserably entangled by mountains and seas, instead of going 
straight to Canaan, tempted him and his servants to think them 
under no divine, nay, no rational direction ; and so might be 
easily forced back to their servitude, which was exceedinglv 
profitable to his kingdom. 14. Meanwhile, God all along gave 
him up to the influence of his own corrupt lusts, — to the temp- 
tations of Satan, and, no doubt, to the remonstrances of wicked 
courtiers, who could suggest a multitude of reasons against his 
allowing.the Israelites to leave the country. 

2. God limits sinful dispositions and actions, Psalm lxxvi. 

10. 1. In their degree, that they are so sinful and no more, — 
so vigorous and no more, &c. Gen. xx. 6. Jer. iii. 5. 2. In 
their extent and influence, that it reaches so far and no farther. 
Isa. x. 32. xxxvii. 29. P§a^nj lxxvi. 10. Rev. xx. 2. 3. In their 



IN HIS WORKS OF PROVIDENCE. ^ 187 

iuvation, permitting men to continue them just so long, and no 
longer, Gen. vi. 3. xv. 13, 16. Dan. vii. 25. Rev. xi. 2. xiii. 5. 

He thus limits men's sinning, 1. By withholding from 

them an ability or opportunity to commit particular sins, by 
laying them under poverty, sickness, or the like, 2 Chron. xxi. 
' 16—19. xvi. 10, 12. 2. By cutting them off by death in the 
beginning or progress of their sinful course, 1 Kings xvi. xxii. 
2 King i. — xvi. xxi v. xxv. 3. By severely correcting or punish- 
ing them for their sin, Job xxxiv. 31, 32. 4. By powerfully 
convincing them of the evil and danger of it, Judg. ii. x. 
5. By converting and changing their heart, Acts ii. ix. 1 Cor. 
\i. 9— 11. 

3. God overrules the sinful dispositions and actions of men 
and devils, 1. To his own glory, in making them occasions for 
the manifestation of his patience, goodness, or revenging jus- 
tice, — and especially in rendering them occasions of promoting 
redemption-work, in which all his perfections are glorified to 
the highest, Psalm lxxvi. 10. Rom. v. 20, 21. 2. To the good 
of his people, in making them, or the troubles procured by 
them, means of awakening, convincing, converting, humbling, 
reforming, or sanctifying them, Rom. vii. 14 — 24. Heb. iii. 12, 

13. xii. 29. Isa. lxiv. 6. 1 Pet. ii. 1. Heb. i. 14, 25, 28. x. 24, 
25. 1 Cor. v. 1 — 5. Rom. v. 20, 21. with vi. 1, 2. 

By God's peculiar providence, we mean that which is espe- 
cially exercised about Christ, as man and mediator, and his 
church. That these are a peculiar object of divine providence 
is manifest : 1. All God's dispensations of providence promote 
the glory of his grace in Christ, whose fulness the church is, 
Eph. i. 10, 22, 23. 2. All power in heaven and on earth is 
lodged in the hand of Christ, in order to be exercised for the 
good of his church, Eph. ii. 22. Mat. xi. 27. xxviii. 18. John 
iii. 35. v. 22. 3. The perfections of God are most gloriously 
displayed in Christ and his church, Eph. iii. 10, 21. She is 
God's hill, Psalm ii. 6. lxxxvii. 1.; his throne, Jer. xvii. 14. ; 
the firmament of his power, Psalm cl. 1. ; his academy for in- 
struction, Eph. iii. 10. iv. 11, 12, 13. Psalm cxlvii. 19, 20. ; 

his temple or house, Eph. ii. 20 — 22. 1 Pet. ii. 5. Heb. iii. 6 

She is, as it were, Christ, the rose of Sharon spread,— Christ 
furnished with members, — in whom there is glory to God in the 
highest, 1 Cor. xii. 12. Eph. iii. 21. Luke ii. 10 — 14. 2 Cor. 
iv. 6. 4. The church hath a more near and dear relation to 
God through Christ, than any thing else, being his bride, his 
sister, his friend, his flock, his jewels, his rest, his garden, his 
portion, &c. Isa. liv. 5. lxii. 4, 5. Song v. 1,2. Ezek. xvi. 8— 

14. xxxiv. xxxvi.xxxvii. Johnx. Mai. iii. 17. Psalm cxxxii. 13, 
14. Song iv. 12 — 16. vi. 2. Deut. xxxii. 9. Psalm cxxxv. 4. 
5. God hath a peculiar esteem of, love to, and delight in his 

.• 



18a OE GOD'S EXECUTION OF HIS DECREES 

church, as connected with Christ, Isa. xlv. 15, 19. xli. 14. xliii. 
4, 15, 21. xliv. 1, 2, 6. lxii. 3 — 5. Jer. xxxii. 39 — 42. Psalm 
lxxxvii. 1, 2. cxlvii. 11. cxlix. 4. cxxxii. 13, 14. Zeph. iii. 17. 
Notwithstanding unnumbered sinful blemishes and provoca- 
tions, he loves one saint more than all the world besides, Isa. 
lvii. 15 — 18. lxvi. 2. Gen. vi. 8. 6. He is peculiarly present 
with Christ and his church, 2 Cor. v. 19. Rev. xiv. 1. Ezek. 
xlviii. 35. Hag. ii. 4, 5. 7. The prayers of Christ and his peo- 
ple have a peculiar influence in forming the dispensations of 
his providence, John xi. 42. Zech. i. 12 — 15. Rev. viii. 3 — 5. 
xi. 3 — 6. Isa> xlv. 11. Psalm cvi. 23. Ezek. xxii. 30. James v. 
16, 17. 8. Under the management of God's providence, all 
things work together for the glory of Christ and the good of 
his church, Rom. viii. 28. — For this purpose the world is so 
.long continued inks present form, Actsxvii. 30. 2 Pet. iii. 9. ; 
and by the presence of Christ and his church in it, it is pre- 
served from utter corruption and ruin, Prov.x. 25. Psalm lxxv. 
3. Isa. vi. 13. lxv. 8.—— - All natural things and all miraculous 
events are directed to, and promote this glory of Christ and 
good of his people, Hos. ii. 18 — 23. Exod. iii — xx. Num. xi. 
xii. xvi. xvii. xx. Josh. vi. x. Hab. iii. 1 Kings xvii.xviii. 
2 Kings i. — vii. xiii. John ii. 11. Mat. iv. 24, 25. xi. 5.— All 
the interests, and the whole fate of nations, in every age and 
place, are directed to, and really promote this end ; though, by 
reason of our ignorance, we cannot distinctly trace their tenden- 
cy to it, 2 Kings ix. 6, 7. 1 Kings xix. 15 — 18. Isa. xliv. xlv. 

Jer. xlvi. — li. Ezek. xxi.27. Hag.ii.6 — 8. Rev. vi. — xxi. 

All good things of importance are given to the church as con- 
nected with Christ ; — all the oracles and ordinances of God % 
Psalm cxlvii. 19, 20. Rom. iii. 2. Eph. iv. 11 — 13. 1 Cor. xii. 
28. — all the gifts and common graces of wicked men, Balaam, 
Judas, Demas, &c. Num. xxii. — xxiv. John vi. 70. Mat. x. 
Philem. 24. — all true and spiritual gifts and graces, Col. i. 25. 
1 Cor. xii. xiv. Eph. i. 3. — all holy angels and men, saints, 
ministers, Heb. i. 14. Psalm xxxiv. 7. 1 Cor. iii. 22. xii. 

28. Eph. iv. 11 — 13. All bad things in the world are 

made to promote the honour of Christ and welfare of the 
church ; — all commotions and destructive judgments are 
made subservient for relieving, awakening, purging, or pre- 
paring for the spread of the church, Psalm xxix. 10, 11. 
Isa. xlvi. 11 — 13. Hag. ii. 6, 7. Rev. xi. 12, 13. xvi. xviii. 
— xxi. Ezek. xx. 36, 37. xxi. 27. Hos. ii. 6, 7, 14. Dan. 
xi. 35. Isa. xxvii. 9. Mic. vi. 14. Zeph. iii. 8 — 20. Gen. 
xlix. 5. Deut. xxxiii. 10. — Contentions in the church are 
made means of fixing men in the truth, or of spreading the 
knowledge of it, Acts xv. 36, 37. and persecution is useful for 
purging or extending the church, Jer. xxiv. 5 — 7. Phil. i. 12. 
Acts viii. 3, 4. xiii. xvi. — xix. Wicked men are m#de of 



I>' 1HS WORKS OF PROVIDENCE. 189 

great use to the church, 1 . In spreading the knowledge of di- 
vine truths. By the influence of Ptolemy, king of Egypt, or 
some renegade Jews, part of the Old Testament was translated 
into Greek, a wide-spread language, to prepare the nations for 
tlie spread of the gospel. — Augustus's enrolment of his subjects, 
Herod's consultation, and his murder of the babes, solemnly 
marked Bethlehem the place, and that, the date of our Saviour's 
birth, Luke ii. 1 — 7. Mat. ii. 1 — 18. 2. In protecting or pro- 
viding for the church or her members, Gen. xii. 10. Isa. xvi. 3, 
4. Rev. xii. 16. 3. In advancing some of her principal friends 
and pillars to great power and influence. — Thus Saul and 
Abner promoted David, 1 Sam. xvi. 2 Sam. xii. v. Pharaoh 
promoted Joseph, Gen. xii. Another Pharaoh and his daugh- 
ter, Moses, Exod. ii. Nebuchadnezzar and Darius, Daniel, 
Dan. i. — vi. Ahasuerus, Esther and Mordecai, Esther ii. viii. 
Artaxerxes, Ezra and Nchemiah, Ezra. vii. Neh. ii. 4. In de- 
livering and enriching the church, Isa. xlv. 3, 4, 13. xlv. 11 — 
13. 5. In purging the church of her corrupt members, bv the 
terrors of persecution, or even by sucking the blood of saints 
till she be cured, 1 John ii. 19. Isa. xxvii. 9. xxxi. 9. Ezek. 
xx. 38. — Even devils are made to work together for the good 
of the church. By taking possession of such multitudes in the 
time of Christ and his apostles, they occasioned multitudes of 
miraculous confirmations of the gospel and Messiahship of 
Christ. By entering into the Gadarent swine, they justified 
God's law, which prohibited the eating of these animals, and 
punished the transgressors of it, — they manifested Christ's al- 
mighty power and sovereignty, and proved the truth and great 

importance of his miraculous cures. Nay, sin itself is made 

to promote the honour of Christ, and welfare of his people, 
Rom. v. 20, 21. Eph. i. 7. 1 John i. 7, 9. Sarah's passion pro- 
moted the promised retriction of Abraham's blessed seed to 
Isaac, Gen. xvi. xxi. Onesimus's theft occasioned his conver- 
sion to Christ, and Paul's furious persecution of the saints has- 
tened Ms, Philem. 10. Acts viii. ix. xxii. xxvi. Gal. i. 1 Tim. i. 
13. Papal fury, clerical horrid impieties, and licentious indul- 
gences, occasioned the Protestant reformation ; and King Hen- 
ry's pride and lewdness occasioned his promoting it in Eng 
land — The Jews' rejection and murder of Christ were instru- 
mental in his ransoming his elect, Isa. liii. Mat. ii xxvii. — 

But, 6. God, in his providential work, manifests an amazing 
regard to his church as connected with Christ, 1 . In sometimes, 
as it were, preferring the exercise of his mercy towards her to 
the vindication of his own honour, and providing for her safety, 
before he step forth to execute his just vengeance on outrage- 
ous offenders, Isa. xxvi. 20. Rev. vii. 1 — 3. Gen. xix. 22. 
2. In taking peculiar care of his own people amidst the mo?? 



190 OF GOD'S EXECUTION OF HIS DECREES 

terrible executions • of his wrath, Ezek. ix. 6. Jer. xv. 11. 
xxxix. 11 — 18. xlv. 5. Amos ix. 9, 10. 3. In stating the inju- 
ries done to his people, as the sole or principal ground of his 
most terrible judgments on nations, 1 Sam. xv.2. Jer. xlviii. — 
li. Ezek. xxv. — xxxv. xxxviii. xxxix. Obad. Mat. xxiv. xxv. 
41 — 45. Rev. vi. viii. ix. xi. — xx. 4. In taking such honour- 
able notice of the meanest of them, while he leaves the great 
ones of the earth unmentioned, or loaded with infamy and con- 
tempt. How large and honourable the history of Jacob, in 
comparison with that of Cain, Ishmael, Esau, and their fami- 
lies ? How much more honourable the history of Ebedmelech 
and the Syrophenician woman, than of all the kings and princes 
of their age, Jer. xxxviii, 7 — 12. xxxix. 15 — 18. Mat. xv. 22 
— 28. The pins of the tabernacle are more noticed than all the 
glories of Nineveh, Babylon, Persepolis, Rome, &c. 5. In de- 
laying his more remarkable providential work, till he have laid 
the plan of it before his people, and obtain their approbation of 
it, Gen. xviii. 17. xli. Dan. ix. — xii. Exod. xxxii.9, 10. Isa. xlv. 
11. 6. In bestowing all his choicest things, — his Son, — his 
word, — his grace, — his glory, only upon his church, Isa. ix. 6. 
ii. 5. Psalm cxlvii. 19, 20. Rom. iii. 2. Hos. viii. 12. Eph. iv. 
11 — -13. 1 Cor. xii. Psalm lxxxiv. 11. 

All the providential dispensations of God towards ourselves 
or our fellow-creatures ought to be carefully observed, Psal. 
cvii. 43. Hos. xiv. 9. Psalm cxi. 2. cxliii. 5. cxlv. 5, 7 . lxxvii. 
5, 10, 11. Isa. v. 12. lxiii. 7. 1. How they are timed with the 
frame of our spirit, Psalm cxxvi. 1.; or with our circumstances, 
Psalm xciv. 18. Job xx. 23. xxix. 18. 2. How they begin, 
Psalm cxxx. 6. Luke i. 66.; go forward, Luke ii. 19, 51. Hos. 
vi. 3.; turn about, Zech. xiv. 7. Gen. xli. 14. Esther vi. 3, 4. 
Gen. xxi. 17. — and end, James v. 11. Job. xlii. 10, 12. 3. How 
they are mixed, sweet and bitter, dark and plain, Lam. iii. 22, 
32. Isa. xxvii. 8, 9. Hab. iii. 2. 4. How they meet together; 
Job i. ii. xlii. John xvi. 33. Eccl. vii. 14. 5. What they teach y 
Mic. vi. 8, 9. Psalm lxxiii. 16, 17. Jer. vii. 7. 6. How they 
harmonize with Scripture doctrines, Psalm xlviii. 8. 1 Cor. i. 
26. Jer. xvii. 9. Mat. xxii. 14.; with Scripture prophecies, 
1 Tim. i. 18. Amos iii. 7.; with Scripture promises, Josh, 
xxi. 45. Psalm cxix. 65. Gen. viii. 22. Mark x. 29, 30. 
Exod. xx. 24. Prov. x. 9. xvi. 7.; with Scripture threatenings, 
Lev. x. 3. Hos. vii. 12. Mic. iv. 11, 12. 1 Sam. ii. 30. Beut. 
xxxii. 35. and with Scripture examples. Psalm cxliii. 5. Jer. 
xii. 1, 2. Psalm xcii. 6, 7. Eccl. viii. 14. 1 Cor. iv. 9. Gen. 

xlvii. 9. and how they harmonize with each other, in their 

parts, form, and end, 1 Cor. x. 13. 1 Pet. iv. 12. Eccl. i. 9 — 11. 
or with their own particular or common end, Deut. xxxii. 4. 
Eccl. iii. 11. Rom. viii. 28. — or with the prayers of saints, Gen. 



IN HIS WORKS OF PROVIDENCE. 191 

xxxii. 24 — 26. xxxiii. 10. 1 Chron. iv. 10. Psalm xviii. 4 — SO. 
xxxiv. 1 — 6. cxvi. 1 — 6. "xli. 11. Mic. vii. 7 — 10. Ezek. 
xxxvi. 37. Gen. xxiv. 4.5. 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9. Psalm lxv. 5. Exod. 
xvii. 11. Rom. viii. 26, 27. Dan. ix. x. — and how they corre- 
spond with those sins which they punish, — in time, — in kind, 
— in similarity,— or in contrariety, 1 Kings xiii. 4. Judges i. 7. 
Gen. xix. 24. Lev. x. 1„2. 1 Cor. xi. 30. Gen. iii. 5, 6. Psal. 
xlix. 20. — Gen. xxx. 1. xxxv. 16 — 19. — Gen. xxvii. 1, 6 — 24. 
xxix. 23.— John xi. 48. Luke xix. 43,44. xxi. 24. 

Reflect. Having thus traversed the spacious fields of crea- 
tion and providence, think, O my soul! Am I,— are all these 
beings around me, visible and invisible, the workmanship of 
God, and constantly preserved and governed by him ? Why 
do I not, then, always consider myself as the temple of the liv- 
ing God, and all places as his residence ?-— Why do not I con- 
stantly perceive him in all things, and enjoy him in all that I 
meet with ?— Why do not I cast all my care, and the care of 
all the churches, upon him ? — Why do not I take every 
event as a demonstration of his love to my soul, and of his 
hatred of my sins ?— Why do I undervalue any thing which 
Jehovah reckons worthy of his making, support, and govern- 
ment ? O his unfathomable wisdom !— his almighty power ! 

—his amazing grace !— his perpetual mindfulness of his cove- 
nant,— that makes all these creatures work together for his 

glory and my good ! And Oh, the horrid guilt of abusing 

a single creature to the service of my sinful lusts ! 



192 OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 



BOOK III. 

Or THE COVENANT BONDS OF RELIGIOUS CONNECTION 
BETWEEN GOD AND MEN. 






CHAP. I. 



Of the Covenant qf Works, in the Making, Breach, and 
Ruinous Consequences of it. 

TO render men more happy, and their obedience more 
cheerful, God hath all along exercised his providence towards 
them, in the form of covenant-connection. Berith, the 
Hebrew word for covenant, denotes an establishment in gene- 
ral ; and hence we read of God's covenant with day and night, 
Jer. xxxiii. 25. The Greek diatheke, also signifies an esta- 
blishment, particularly one by agreement or testament, Heb. 
vkL 22. ix. 15. A real covenant in general is, an agree- 
ment made between different persons oil certain terms. — Its 
necessary requisites are parties, — a condition, — a promise, — 
and a penalty, if any of the parties be fallible. — The covenants 
which God hath contracted for promoting the eternal happi- 
ness of mankind are two, — of works, and of gra*:e, Gal. iv. 
24.* Rom. iii. 27. Gal. ii. 21. v. 4. Rom. vi. 14. viii. 2 Phil. 
iii. 19. &c. 



* This text perhaps immediately respects the two dispensations of the cove- 
nant of grace, — though not without some reference to the two covenants them- 
selves. On the one hand, Hasah, a bond-maid, first pregnant in, — and 

at last with her son cast out from, Abraham's family, — denotes the legal dis- 
pensation as a state of ceremonial bondage, and of much inclination to the 
works of the law, — as first in order bringing forth professed children to God, 
— and at last expelled from the church of God and the hearts of his people. 
Sinai, a barren mountain covered with thorns, — once terrible with thun- 
ders and lightnings, — and far distant from Canaan, the promised land, repre- 
sents the covenant of works and legal dispensation, as pricking men's con- 
sciences with charges of guilt, and terrifying them with proclaimed commands 
and curses ; — but altogether unfit to bring them into the evangelical and the 

heavenly rest. Ishmael is an emblem of the Jews and other legalists, as 

early children of God in their open profession ; but continuing under their 
spiritual bondage, and persecuting his Christian people, and therefore at last 

expelled from his church. Sabah, a free woman, late and supernatural ia 

her conception and child-birth, but continuing in Abraham's family till she 
died, prefigured the Christian dispensation and covenant of grace, as free, late, 



OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 193 

No party with whom God enters into covenant, can be at 
liberty to refuse his terms, or to propose terms to him, as in 
covenants between equals oi mankind. No terms, which God, 
who is infinitely wise, holy, kind, and sovereign, proposes to 
his creatures, can be refused in a consistency with perfect pu- 
rity of nature.— Nay, Jesus Christ could not have refused 
any terms which were proposed to him. He couldjiot refuse 
them, as the Son of God ; his will being the very same with that 
of his Father. He could not refuse them as Mediator, without 
disobedience to Jehovah's infinite authority. Nay, his man- 
hood could not have refused them without sinning, which its 
immediate union to his divine person rendered absolutely im- 
possible. — To pretend, therefore, that because Adam durst not 
refuse the terms which God proposed, there could be no cove- 
nant at all made with him, but a mere law imposed on him, 
plainly includes a denial that God can enter into any covenant 
at all, even with Christ.— If a father who hath a prior, a natu- 
ral claim to the whole obedience of his son, require him to per- 
form some particular service in order to obtain a particular re- 
ward, and mean while, furnish him with food, raiment, tools, 
and every thing necessary in carrying on the work, — he can- 
not lawfully refuse the terms ; and nevertheless, when the re- 
quired service is fulfilled, he hath a right by his father's pro- 
mise, to claim the reward. And if so, there is manifestly a real 
covenant between them. The application to our present point 
is obvious. 

It is sufficiently evident, that a real covenant of this kind 
was made by God with Adam, in his innocent state. 1. In his 
transaction with him we have all the requisites of a covenant, — , 
proper parties, — proper and real terms, — a condition, promise, 
and penalty, in case of a breach on Adam's side, who was fal- 
lible, — and proper seals, as will be afterwards more fully mani- 
fested, Gen. ii. 17. iii. 22. 2. This transaction between God 
and Adam is in Scripture expressly called a covenant, Gal. iv. 
24. Here we have two covenants, one of which gendereth to 
bondage, which the broken covenant of works doth, in a fearful 
manner, 1 Cor. xv. 56. Gal. iii. 10, 1.3. the other must there- 
fore gender to spiri ual and everlasting freedom and liberty, 
which it is certain the covenant of grace no less remarka ; ly 

— ' ' . i ■ i » «, i ■ ' 

but supernaturally productive of children to God, and remaining- in his 
churcli till the end of time. Mount Ziox, pleasant and comely, the resi- 
dence of God in his temple, and near the middle of Canaan, represented that 
covenant and dispensation, as singularly pleasant and beautiful, — blessed with 

God's peculiar presence, — and bringing men to heaven. Isaac figured out 

Christian and other believers, — last in order, — born of the Spirit, — made free 
by Christ, — persecuted by Jews and other legalists, — but fixed and everlasting 
members of God's family, and heirs of himself. 

E e 



194 OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 

doth, Rom. viii. 2. vi. 14. John viii. 32, 36.— Besides the co- 
venant of grace, which is plainly a remedial one, being publishe 1 
immediately after Adam's f all, necessarily supposeth the breach 
of an antecedent covenant of works, Gen. iii. 15, 22. Rom. v. 
12 — 21. — In Hos. vi. 7. we have also mention ol this covenant 
with Adam. Keadam, here rendeied as men, is only found in 
other two texts of Scripture. — In Job xxxi. 34. our translation 
renders i^tike Adam. In Psalm lxxxii. 7. a similar translat on 
Would make the passagea ppear much more emphatick. Ye shall 
die like Adam, whose honours were once so great, but quickiy 
ruined. — In Hosea our translation renders the charge remark- 
ably flat. But if it be rendered, " They, like Adam, have 
transgressed the covenant," i. e. have rebelled against the highest 
authority, manifested in the most solemn and engaging manner, 
— against the strongest motives, — and in violation of the most 
solemn engagements, — against the most express warnings, and 
upon the slightest temptations, and to the ruin of themselves 
and their posterity ;— how nervous and striking ! 3. As the 
infinite goodness of God determines him to lay no unnecessary 
burden on his creatures, his prescription of a positive command 
to Adam, and annexing the most dreadful death to the breach 
of it, naturally infers his annexing of a reward to his obedi- 
ence, — in which the reality of a covenant-agreement is plainly 
manifested, Gen. ii. 17. 4. When we observe that God hath 
ordinarily appended some visible token for establishing or seal- 
ing his covenants with men, — as the seal of the rainbow to the 
covenant of safety made with Noah, — the seal of circumcision to 
the covenant of peculiar friendship and promise of Canaan with 
Abraham, — the seals of the passover and sacrifices to the cove- 
nant of peculiar adoption with the Israelites, — the seals of bap- 
tism and the hordes supper to the new covenant-dispensation of 
the gospel period, — we are naturally led to look on the trees of 
knowledge and of life as seals annexed to a covenant-transaction 
with Adam ; the former representing him as on trial for ever- 
lasting happiness, and the latter suggesting, that upon his ful- 
filment^ the obedience required, he should obtain a more per- 
fect life and happiness, than that which he enjoyed. 5. The 
law, imposed on Adam in his creation state, hath been fre- 
quently published in the form of a covenant, Lev. xviii. 5. 
Deut. xxvii. 26. Matt. xix. 17. Gal. iii. 12. Rom. x. 5. — and is 
represented as a law, which admits of boasting, if perfect obe- 
dience be fulfilled, and as contrary to the law of faith, or cove- 
nantof grace manifested in the gospel, which it is only in its 
covenant form, Rom. iii. 27. 6. Nothing more effectually 
proves, that God made a real covenant with Adam, than the 
imputation of his first sin to all his natural posterity, even as 
the Surety-righteousness of Christ is imputed to all his spiritual 



OP THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 195 

seed, Rom. v. 1~ — 21. 1 Cor. xv. 22. His being their natural 
father or root cou.d not be the foundation of this imputation, 
otherwise all his sins, at least before he begat Seth, our proge- 
nitor, must be imputed to us,-— whereas all men were consti- 
tuted sinners by one offence, Rom. v. 18. — Moreover, if pa- 
rental relation inferred imputation of conduct to children, all 
the sins, if not also all the good works of our progenitors, espe- 
cially of our immediate parents, must be imputed to us, where- 
as all men were constituted sinners by one mail's disobedience, and 
died in Adam, Rom. v. 19. 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22. 

The parties contracting in this covenant were, I. God the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, considered as the Creator, So- 
vereign, Proprietor, and Governour of mankind. — In his propo- 
sal of it, he appears as, 1. A God of supreme, unbounded authori- 
ty, stamping his mere will into a law, to be obeyed under the 
highest penalty, and disposing of eternal life on what terms he 
pleased. 2. A God oi unbounded goodness, in establishing with 
Adam, whom he had newly created, perfectly holy and happy, 
a most proper method of making him and all his posterity eter- 
nally more happy on the easiest terms. 3. A God of injinitc 
condescension, entering into a covenant with his creatures, and 
requiring that obedience by paction, which he might have re- 
quired by mere authority. II. Adam, considered, 1. As a man 
perfectly holy and righteous, — perfectly inclined and capable to 
fulfil whatever obedience God required, Eccl. vii. 29. Gen i. 
27. v. 1. Col. iii. 10. Eph. iv. 24. Nor indeed would a kind 
and righteous God have required any obedience from him, but 
what he had made him capable of performing, Matt. xxv. 24, 
Psalm cxix. 68. lxxxvi. 5, 15. Deut. xxxii. 4. 2. As a com- 
mon publick head of all his natural posterity. His being their 
common Parent fitted him to be their moral Head or represen- 
tative in this covenant. Hence all that descend from him by 
ordinary generation, and perhaps Eve also, were represented 
by him in it. — Indeed she fell by her own personal transgres- 
sion, but so might any of the representees have done before the 
condition was fulfilled, the covenant confirmed, and the state 
of trial in it finished. — Christ being the Son of God ; — being 
from all eternity constituted the Representative of his own elect 
seed in the remedial covenant of grace, — having never any hu- 
man person, — and being descended from Adam, not by natural 
or ordinary generation, but by the supernatural influence of the 
Holy Ghost, in virtue of a promise posteriour to his fall, John i. 
14. Psalm lxxxix. 3, 4, 19, 20. Isa. vii. 14. Luke i. 35. Gen. 
iii. 15. — he could not be represented by him in it. 

It is sufficiently evident, that Adam truly represented and 
stood bound for all his natural posterity in this covenant. 1. In 
all the occasional typical covenants which God made with 



196 OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 

men, the parent in some sense represented his posterity j as 
Noah, Gen. ix. 9. ; Abraham, Gen. xvii. 7, 8. ; David, 2 Sam. 
vii. 16. ; Phinehas, Num. xxv. 10 — 13. ; the Israelites, Isa. lix. 
21. 2. in this matter, Adam is represented as similar to 
Christ, 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22, 45 — 49. Rom. v. 12—21. And as 
Christ and his spiritual seed are called by the same name of 
jfacob, Israel and Christ, — so Adam's posterity are, in the He- 
brew original, called by his name about four hundred and 
thirty times. 3. Adam s breach of this covenant is by an infi- 
nitely righteous God imputed, or stated in law-reckoning, to the 
account of all his natural posterity, — even though they never 
live to imitate him in actual sin, Rom. v. 12 — 19. — How could 
this take place, but upon the foot of their covenant represent- 
ation in him ? 4. All his natural posterity are constituted sin- 
ners, and ruined in law, by the one offence of his first sin, Rom. 
v. 17,18. 

God's entering into covenant with all mankind in Adam was 
most reasonable and kind. 1 . It was the shortest way in which 
they could obtain everlasting happiness. In this method, one 
man's perfect obedience to God's law, for a time, perhaps a very 
short time, would have secured this happiness to all mankind ; 
—whereas, had each man stood bound for himself, it would 
have continued in suspense to many of them, who knows how 
long. 2. It plainly appeared the safest method. Adam be- 
ing formed in an adult state, perfectly holy, fully able and in- 
clined to fulfil the whole law of God, — and living while Satan 
was less crafty, and there were fewer occasions of temptations 
— and having the strongest motives, — regard to his own, and 
to all mankind's happiness, to engage him to care, activity, 
and perseverance in his work, — promisi d fairer to retain his 
perfection and persevere in his obedience, than any of his seed. 
Adam was the most fit person of mankind to be the cove- 
nant-head and representative of all the rest. Being their com- 
mon parent, he was most equally related to them all. He 
had stronger motives and better opportunities to persevere in 
perfect obedience, than any other could have. — In fine, an in- 
finitely wise, holy, just, and good God, having chosen him for 
their Head, and included this representation of them in his 
proposal of his covenant-favours, none of his posterity, if they 
had been all alive on the spot, could, without sin against 
God, — without self-injuring folly, have withheld their con- 
sent, Psalm cxix. 68. Gen. xviii. 25. Deut. xxxii. 4. Eccl. iii. 
14. vii. 13. 

Though this covenant was proposed by God, the great law- 
giver, to his newly-created subjects, and on that account is 
frequently called the Lazv, or Law of Works, Rom. vii. 4. vi. 
14. iii. 27, &c. Adam could not but consent to the terms of it. 



OF THE COVENANT OF WOHKS. 197 

1. Being God's rational creature, subject to his sovereign do- 
minion, he was bound to accept whatever terms he proposed, 
and to receive his favours, in whatever method he pleased to 
bestow them. — Not to have desired and embraced the promise, 
would have implied contempt of God's goodness and bounty. — 
Not to have readily received the precept, would have implied 
hatred of his holiness, and rebellion against his authority. — 
Not to have submitted to the penalty, would have implied a 
denial of his justice and authority. — Not the smallest degree 
of any of these could have consisted with perfect innocence. 

2. The natural love which uncorrupted man bore to himself, 
naturally carried him out toward God, as his chief good ; and 
consequently to the only way of enjoying him as such. 3. 
Adam's pure conscience could not but perceive and attest that 
the whole tenour of this covenant was very acceptable and gra- 
cious, viz. That he should hold God as his chief good, and 
seek happiness in him above all things else ; that he should 
cheerfully accept of the everlasting enjoyment of him, as infi- 
nite good, when offered upon the easiest terms ; that he should 
cheerfully receive that law, which was the will of his Creator, 
and a transcript of his moral perfections, to be the rule of his 
dispositions and conduct ; and that he should submit his guilty 
head to God's just vengeance, if he contemned his gracious 

promise, and violated his holy law. in God's proposal of 

the terms to Adam, and in his acceptance of them, and thus 
reciprocally engaging themselves each to other, the making of 
this covenant consisted. — Adam's consent to the terms, actual- 
ly instated him in this covenant, even as our believing consent 
to the terms of the covenant of grace actually and personally in- 
states us in it. 

The parts of this covenant of works were the Condition, 

Promise, and Penalty. The Condition was, that which God 

required Adam to fulfil in order to acquire a right for him- 
self and his posterity to the promised rew r ard. — The Promise 
was, God's engagement or declaration of his will to bestow 
eternal life on Adam and all his natural posterity, as the re- 
ward of his fulfilment of the condition. — The Penalty was, 
that punishment which God threatened and had to inflict 
on Adam and his seed, if he did not perfectly fulfil that con- 
d tion. 

Obedience to God was, and must be, the condition of the 
covenant of works, — the Rule, Matter, and Manner of which 
require our consideration. Concerning the rule of this obe- 
dience, or law of the covenant, it may be observed, 1. The 
natural relation between God as a Creator, Preserver, and 
Governour, and man as a rational creature, necessarily required 



198 OP THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 

that God should prescribe a law to him, which should not onh/ 
regulate his actions, but also the moral qualities of his nature ; 
and that the leading commandments of it should be founded 
upon the unchangeable nature of God, — that so all men, at 
all times, might have their dispositions and behaviour adjusted 
by the same standard. 2. This law must be duly made known 
to man, that it might be obeyed without mistake. — It was 
manifested to Adam before the covenant form of it was pro- 
posed to him, — being written in his heart, and inlaid in the 
image of God, which was concreated with and in his nature, 
Gen. i. 26, 27. — It summarily required him, as he should have 
opportunity, to love God with all his heart, soul, mind, and 
strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, Matt. xxii. 37— 
40. Mark xii. 29 — 33. 3. The end of this covenant being to 
render men more happy than when they were newly created, 
it was very proper that, to the law of nature written on man's 
heart in his creation, some positive precept should be added, 
and especially one that might promote his exact fulfilment of 

the whole condition. That which God actually prescribed, 

was, that Adam should never eat of the fruit of the tree of 
knowledge of good and evil, which, growing in the midst of 
the garden of Eden, where he was lodged, was almost con- 
tinually in his view. This command was remarkably calcu- 
lated, 1. To manifest God's high sovereignty over man, as 
one who could enact his mere will into a law, — and try man's 
obedience in a point which his enlightened conscience did not 
dictate, but which manifested his entire subjection to the mere 
will of God. 2. To render Adam's obedience or disobedience 
more conspicuous, that God might appear most just in bestow- 
ing the reward or inflicting the punishment on him and his seed, 
Psalm li. 4. Rom. iii. 3, 4, 8—18, 25, 26. 3. To mark that 
Adam held all that which he enjoyed of God, as his great su- 
periour, proprietor, and landlord ; and so, even in paradise, 
durst not meddle with an apple without God's allowance, and 
ought to consult him in all that he did. 4. To be a perpetual 
monitor to Adam that he was fallible, and had need to take 
heed to his ways, to watch against his spiritual enemies, and 
that he was not come to his complete happiness and rest, 
since even in his paradise, there was a want, the fruit of a tree, 
most delightful, was denied him j and that his chief happiness 
lay only in God himself, and so nothing was to be desired but 
only in submission to his will, and for his sake. 5. To be a 
summary of the law of nature imprinted on his heart, — in obe- 
dience to which, he might honour God, loving him with all his 
heart, soul, mind, and strength, and manifest a proper love to 
himself and to his posterity. 






OP THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 1?9 

The matter of obedience required from Adam in this cove- 
nant, was an observance of the whole law of God, natural or 
positive, or a being- and acting exactly according to it, from 
regard to its divine authority. This included, 1. The retain- 
ing of his nature in ali its original purity. Without this, none 
of his thoughts, words, or deeds could have been truly, perfect- 
ly, or acceptably performed, Eccl. vii. i:9. 1 Tim. i. 5. 2. An 
exercising all the powers of his holy nature, in thoughts, words, 
or deeds, answerable to the law of the covenant, Lev. xxvii. 26. 
Gal. iii. 10, 12. 

In respect of its manner, Adam's obedience must be, 1. per- 
fect in its principle and motive, — exactly answerable to every 
precept of the whole laxv, — and correspondent with all the parts 
and powers of his nature, soul, body, understanding, conscience, 
will, affections and memory, Luke x. 27, 28. — in the matter, 
manner, means and end of the action itself, — and in degree, 
with all the heart, soul, mind, and strength, Matt. xxii. 37, 39. 
Mark xii 29 — 33. 2. perpetual, till God should release him 
from under that law, in its covenant form, Gal. iii. 10. Ezekiel 
xviii. 24. Nor, till he had finished his course of obedience, 
had he any legal claim to the promised reward, but was merely 
in a state of trial, proper for acquiring it, Gal. iii. 12. This 
state could not have been eternal, as that would have excluded 
all reward at the end of his service. But, when God would 
have removed him from it, and fixed him and his posterity un- 
der his law as a rule of life, in a manner somewhat similar to 
the state of believers, who are dead to the law by the body of 
Christ, — whether when the fruit had wholly gone off theybr- 
hidden tree ; — or when he had begotten his first child ; — or 
when his eldest children were each capable to act for 
himself, &c. — we know not. 3. Personal, — not that every 
one of mankind should have obeyed for himself, in order 
to found his particular claim to the promised reward : for, if 
death was entailed upon Adam's natural posterity by his diso- 
bedience, before any of them had actually sinned, Rom. v. 12 
— 14. eternal life must have been conferred upon them, on ac- 
count of his obedience to the law as a covenant, and their own 
would have b'een at once their happy privilege, and their holy 
gratitude to God, under his law as a rule of life. But it was to 
be personal, performed by man himself, not by a surety, and 
begun and finished by the same person. 4. Performed in a 
covenant-form, in Adam's fulfilling the law, not merely as 
imposed on him by the infinite authority of God, but also as 
taken upon himself by his own engagement, — and fulfilling it 
in hopes of God's graciously bestowing the promised reward. 
If he had not thus regarded the covenant, in which he stood, 
in all his obedience, he had poured contempt on that graciously 



200 OF THE COVENANT OP WORKS. 

formed ordinance of God, in all its concerns, Judg. xi. 35. 
Psalm cxix. 106. 1. 14. Num. xxx. 

A reward of life by the promise of God, was annexed to 
Adam's fulfilment of this obedience. The threatening of death, 
in case of disobedience, especially, as annexed to the breach of 
a positive precept, implied, that Adam had no reason to fear 
the loss of hh life or happiness, while he continutd in his ol>e- 
dience ; and that if he persevered in it, he might expect some 
great reward, sufficient to balance that death which had been 
annexed to the positive precept in a matter quite indifferent in 
itself. — God's declaration to Cain concerning acceptance and 
condemnation, as suspended on his good or ill-behaviour, — and 
every re-publication of the covenant of works to men, plainly 
hinted, that it contained a promise of reward to finished obe- 
dience, Gen. iv. 7. Lev. xviii. 5. Neh. ix. 29. Ezek. xx. 11. 
Matt. xix. 17. Rom. x. 5.ii. 7, 10. Gal. iii. 12. Nay, his an- 
nexing a gracious reward to imperfect obedience to his law as a 
rule of life, Psalm xix. 11. 1 Cor. xv. 58. Heb. xi. 6, 26. con- 
firms it. And it is observable that all nations have had a be- 
lief of God's readiness to accept of, and reward good works. 
The life with which God promised to reward Adam's 
fulfilment of the condition of this covenant, comprehended, 

1. Trie continuance of that life which he had while he con- 
tinued in his course oi servile obedience, which includes, l.The 
continuance of natural life in the matter of it ; his body having 
in it no actual principle of death, his continued obedience 10 
the law of the covenant barred out death from it : — in the vi- 
gour of it without any languor or decay, — -though by means of 
labour, food, rest ; — and in the pure comforts of it, — there being 
nothing to embitter, but every thing to sweeten these, Rom. 
x. 5. Gal iii. 12. Lev. xviii. 5. Deut iv. 40. 2. The conti- 
nuance of a prosperous spiritual life, — including the continuance 
of God's image in its perfection on his soul ; — the continuance 
of his favour and kindness, and of familiar intimacy with him 
in every ordinance suited to that state, without any hiding or 
frown, — and the continued comforts of a good conscience, re 
fleeting on that which was past, and on his constant approach 
toward his complete and eternal reward, 2 Cor i 12. 2 Tim 
iv. 7, 8. 

2. The enjoyment of a more perfect life, after he should have 
finished his servile obedience ; — in which, 1. Adam and his pos- 
terity should have had their bodies sealed up, and secured against 
natural death, and every form or degree of approach to it. 
2. God would h.ive infallibly confirmed their souls in perfect 
conformity to himself. 3. Their persons should have been un- 
alterably fixed in a state of favour with him, and made hono- 
rary subjects to his law as a rule. 4. Without any breach of 



r 



OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 201 

the union between soul and body, both should have, in God's 
time, been translated to heaven, thereto be for ever blessed with 
the full and immediate enjoyment of a three-one God. 

Their eternal life in heaven, would have been the same in 
substance with that which believers enjoy there, through Christ. 
1. Reason itself suggests, that God would promise to Adam 
and his seed something better than that happiness which he en- 
joyed; — and that after his state of service, there would probably 
happen one of reward ; and that, as the garden of Eden was 
chiefly calculated to promote the temporal felicity of his body, 
there would be a future state of happiness, chiefly correspondent 
with the noble nature of his soul. 2. The everlasting execu- 
tion of the penalty of death in hell, especially as it was origi- 
nally annexed to the breach of a merely positive command, 
strongly infers, that the promise of reward included an eternal 
life in heaven, Matt. xxv. 4G. Rom. vi. 23. 3. Our Saviour 
plainly represents the eternal life of the heavenly state as an- 
nexed to the perfect keeping of God's commandments, Matt. 
xix. 17. 4. That eternal life connected by the law with the 
perfect fulfilment of all its demands, is represented as the very 
same in substance with that which is enjoyed by faith, Rom. 
x. 5. Hab. ii. 4. Rom. i. 17. Gal. iii. 11, 12. 5. Christ pur- 
chased that very life for men, which the law, on account of 
their sinfulness, could not confer on them, Rom. viii. 3, 4. Gal. 
iii. 21. ii. 21. — Now, the law was originally ordained to be the 
instrument of conferring eternal life in heaven, as well as tem- 
poral and spiritual life on earth, Rom. vii. 10. Matt. xix. 17. 
6. Though justification, which includes an adjudging to 
eternal life, be by the Scriptures declared now altogether 
impossible by the works of the law, — it is never hinted, that 
this ariseth from any other cause than man's inability to 
satisfy for past offences, and perform the duty which is still re- 
quired, Rom. viii. 3. iii. 19, 20. Gal. iii. 21. 7. The appending 
of the tree of life as a seal of this covenant, obscurely pointed 
out, that a more perfect life was implied in the promised re- 
ward. — Nevertheless, that eternal life which was suspended 
on Adam's fulfilling the condition of this covenant of works, 
would have been inferiour to that which is enjoyed through 
Christ, in several very delightful adjuncts. 1 . It would not 
have been sweetened by means of any preceding experience of 
sin, sorrow, fear or trouble. 2. There would have been no 
God in our nature in the midst of the throne, through whom, 
as slain and alive for evermore, we might behold God as our 
all in all. 3. Our title to our happiness would not have 
been confirmed in the person and death of the Son of God, — ■ 
nor our charter have been a New Testament in his blood. 
4. We would have had none of the delightful manifestations of 

F f 



202 OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 

p 

God's perfections peculiar to the work of redemption. 5. Though 
we would have lived and reigned with God as his created ser- 
vants, friends and children, — yet not as the redeemed travail 
of his soul, sisters, brethren, and bride. 

With respect to the connection of this reward of life with 
Adam's obedience, it is plain, that being God's creature, pre- 
served by him, his whole obedience was due to God, indepen- 
dent of any rewards. Besides, th--re was an infinite ctisprc por- 
tion between the temporary obedience of a finite creature^and 
the everlasting enjoyment of an infinite God, for himself and 
all his posterity. This whole connection of such a reward with 
his obedience must therefore depend on the mere grace and 
bounty of God. God had become debtor, not properly to 
Adam, but to his own sovereign kindness, and his faithfulness 
pledged in his promise. But such is my weakness, that I can- 
not determine whether the bestowal of this reward, would have 
proceeded from his natural goodness, or merely from his sove- 
reign will. — On the one hand, it is manifest that God could 
have done no injury to man, though he had reduced him to 
nothing that moment he had finished any prescribed course of 
obedience. The reward necessarily attending a course of per- 
fect holiness, would have perfectly marked his goodness and 
bounty, Psal. xix. 11. 2. Cor. i. 12. But on the other hand, it 
is certain that man was created with an eager desire after the 
enjoyment of God, as his chief good, — and that annihilation 
would have been the more distressing in proportion to his holi- 
ness or desire after God. — Now, I cannot conceive of God's 
forming a desire after himself, never to be fully satisfied, unless 
where sin interposes, nor of his. annihilating a soul in the very 
mouent of its ardent desire after, and delight in himself. — God 
cannot but love a holv creature. But, I cannot conceive how 
his infinite love could deny this holy and t>eloved creature, its 
wished enjoyment of himself ; or, how it could admit of his an- 
nihilating such a creature, in its very act of love to him, and 
eager pressing after the highest degrees of holiness and love. 

Death was the penalty threatened in the covenant of works, 
Gen. ii. 7. If death was annexed to the least breach of the 
positive precept, it could not but be annexed 1o the breach of the 
natural law written on man's heart, Rom. vi. 23. Ezek. xviii. 4. 
Rom. ii. 8, 9. Isa. iii. 11. 1 John iii. 4. The emphatical form 
of the threatening, Dying, thou shall die, imported the infallible 
certainty, the unspeakable extent, and the dreadful nature of 
that death, Gen. ii. 17. It was, in general, 1. Legal death, 
which consists in the curse or condemning sentence of the 
broken law immediately fixing upon the transgressor, as a cloud 
hovering over his head, pregnant with God's vengeance, and as 
cords of death girding him so fast, that God alone can loose 



OF THE COVENANT OF "WORKS. 208 

him, Gal. iii. 10. John Hi. 18, 36. 2. Real death, which 
consists in the actual execution of that condemning sentence on 
him, from the first moment of his sinning. This may be dis- 
tinguished into, 

1. Spiritual death. Sin, and the curse procured by it, 
separating man from the favour and fellowship of God, the 
fountain of life, he necessarily becomes dead in trespasses and 
sins,Isa. lix. 2. Eph. ii. 1. — In the commencement of it, in Adam's 
first act of sin, is included, 1. The loss of God's image on the 
soul, and the succession of all manner of sinful corruption in its 
stead, — as of ignorance, pride, vanity, proneness to falsehood and 
deceit, in the understanding ; — blindness, stupidity, partiality, 
and disorder in the conscience ; — weakness with respect to good, 
proneness to evil, perverse wilfulness, and enmity against God 
in his existence, perfections, discoveries of himself, word, ordi- 
nances, people, and every other thing bearing his image, in the 
will; — earthliness, disorder, respecting objects and degrees, in 
the affections ; — treacherous readiness to forget every thing 
good, and tenacious retention of that which is trifling and 
sinful, in the memory, Gen. i. 26, 27. Rom. i. 28 — 31. iii. 
10— IS. viii. 7, 8. vii- 8, 24. Jer. xvii. 9. Matt. xv. 19. Mark 
vii. 21 — 23. Tit- iii. 3. Gen. vi. 5 viii. 21. 2. The complete 
breach of all friendship and fellowship with God, and the suc- 
cession of stated indignation, wrath, abhorrence, hidings and 

frowns instead thereof, Psalm v. 4 — 6. Eph. ii. 3. 12. In its 

progress this spiritual death includes, 1. The growing strength 
of sinful lusts, the increasing number and heinousness of dead 
works, 2 Tim. iii. 13. 2. The infliction of God's just ven- 
geance on the soul, in many fearful and ruinous strokes, some 
of them felt, as sorrows, crosses, anxieties, vexations, terrours, 
and despair; others of them unfelt, as judicial blindness of mind, 
hardness of heart, searedness of conscience, strong delusions, a 
reprobate sense, vile affections, slavery of Satan, &c. 2 Cor. 
vii. 10. Matt, xxvii. 3, 4. Gen. iv. 14. Deut. xxviii. 65 — 67. 
Jer. xx. 4. Luke xxi. 26* Isa. xxxiii. 14. Prov. xviii. 14. Isa. 
xvii. ll.»Heb. x. 26 — 31. — Eph. iv. 18. 2 Cor iv. 3,4. iii. 14. 
Isa. lxiii. 17. xlii. '25. 1 Tim. iv. 2. Rom. xi. 8. Isa. lxvi. 4. 
2 Thess. ii. 9—12. Psal. lxxxi. 12. Rom. i. 26—31. Tit. i. 
15, 16. 2 Tim. iii. 8. Psal. cix. 6. 

2. Natural or temporal death, which is, 1. Inxvard'va a 

sinner's own body. In his first act of sinning, man became 

mortal in his constitution, a slave to death, and had the seeds of 
it implanted in him. Terrour and anxiety of mind produced a 
deathful motion in his blood and animal spirits, Gen. ii. 17. 
Hi. 16, 19. This death marks its progress in manifold diseases, 
Eccl. iii. 20. Gen. iii. 19. Deut. xxviii. 22, 28, 29. Matt. iv. 24. 
It is completed in the separation of the soul from the body under 



or THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 

the curse, Gen. iii. 19. Jer. xxxiv. 18. 2. Outxvard and relative, 
affecting those creatures upon which the natural life or health 

of man's body depends, Hos. ii. 21, 22. This began in the 

irrational part of the lower creation falling under the bondage 
of corruption for the sin of man, its immediate proprietor, Rom. 
viii. 22. Hence animals are armed against one another, espe- 
cially against man ; fields are turned into barrenness ; the air 
is poisoned with pestilential vapours ; the sea rageth in tem- 
pests ; the winds are bleak, cold, and stormy, — all being fitly 
framed together for promoting man's death. — It increases in 
their becoming worse and worse. The earth was rendered much 
more unhealthful by the flood ; the air was more thoroughly 
poisoned ; and a shortening of man's life ensued. — Still things 
grew worse and worse ; fertile fields are turned to barrenness, 
sunk by earthquakes, marred by volcanoes, &c. Hence human 
life is but about a fourteenth part of what it once was, Psal. 
cvii. 33 — 35. xc 7 — 10. cii. 26. — It will be completed, when the 
present frame of this lower v orld shall be dissolved, the elements 
melt with fervent heat, and the earth and the works in it be 
burnt up, Psal. cii. 26. 2 Pet. iii. 10. 

3. Eternal death, in which natural and spiritual death are 
united, and the penalty carried to the highest extent : hence it 
is called the second death, Rev. xx. 6, 14.— As this death proceeds 
from the penal sanction of the covenant of works, it includes in 
it the complete loss of every thing good or agreeable, earthly, 
heavenly, or divine, Luke xii. 20. Rev. xxi. 8. xxii. 15. Matt. 
xxv. 41 . and the enduring most tremendous torments in soul 
and body, till infinite satisfaction be made for sin, Matt. xxv. 
41. Mark ix. 49. Rev. xiv. 10, 11. Psalm xc. 11. Luke xii. 
58, 59. — As it falls on a finite and sinful creature, it includes 
the irrecoverableness of God's image and favour, Hos. ix. 12. 
Psalm lxxvii. 7 — 9= Heb. x. 26, 27 — a constant and agonizing 
despair of relief, Mark ix. 44, 45, 48, 49. a constant subjection 
to the full power and violence of indwelling lusts, pride, envy, 
malice, &c Rev. xvi. 10, 11, 21. and all in eternal duration, 
2 Thess. i. 7— 9. Rev. xiv. 9, 10, 11. Matt. xxv. 41, 46. Isa. 
xxxiii. 14. 

This penalty of the broken covenant of works flows from the 
natural perfections of God ; — not from any mere act of his will, 
as the making the covenant doth. 1. The Majesty of God the 
covenanter, being infinite, every act of disobedience to the law 
of the covenant must be high treason against infinite dignitv 
and goodness, — a contempt of, and rebellion against infinite 
authority, and an attempt against the infinitely precious life of 
God, — and hence can deserve nothing less than infinite punish- 
ment. Being thus objectively infinite, and nothing less than the 
blood of God capable to balance its guilt, or purge from its 



OF THE COVENANT OP WORKS. 205 

pollution, it must continue for ever ; and so the punishment of 
it on a finite person must be extended through all eternity. — 
God, who is El kane, a jealous God, ready to resent the 
injuring any thing dear to him, must avenge himself of such a 
criminal. — He cannot conceal his majesty, when sinful worms 
attempt to rob him of it, trample it under foot, and enthrone 
themselves in opposition to him : but the whole earth ought to 
be filled with the glory of the Lord, Exod. xx. v. Isa. li. 4. 
v. i6. Num. xiv. 21. 2. The holiness of God's nature requires 
such a penalty annexed to sin. Being infinitely holy, he cannot 
admit men, defiled and enslaved by sin, to fellowship with him, 
— nor in consistence with his own curse lying on them, can he 
grant thern a sanctified nature to qualify them for it. — He 
cannot, with pleasure, behold that which is an abomination to 
his soul ; nor can he but hate those in whom this abomination 
is loved and reigns, Psalm v. 4, 5, xi. 6, 7. Hab. i. 12, 13. 
Jer. xliv. 4. Prov. xvi. 5. vi. 16. Zech. xi. 8. — If holiness be 
his very image, he cannot, without appearing as sinful, forbear 
to shew his detestation of sin, Psalm 1. 21. and hence is repre- 
sented as sanctified in the punishment of it, Lev. x. 3. Ezek. 
xxxviii. 16. Isa. v. 16. Josh. xxiv. 19. 3. Ithath already been 
proved, that the justice of God necessarily requires his punish- 
ment of sin, he cannot be just without giving every one his due, 
either in himself, or in his representative and surety, Rom. i. 
32. ii. 2. Jer. v. 5, 7, 9. Gen. xviii. 25. Psalm xi. 6, 7. — 
God's judgments are not called his strange act or work, on 
account of their disagreeableness to his good and merciful 
nature, — but because they are much less common on earth, than 
his merciful providences, Isa. xxviii. 21. He hath no pleasure 
in the death or misery of his creatures in itself, Ezek. xxxiii. 
11. xviii. 32. Lam. iii. 33. Hos. xi. 8. ; but he relisheth it as a 
vindication of his own perfections, Deut. xxxii. 35, 36, 41, 42, 
43. Isa. i. 24. Hos. x. 10. ; refresheth himself with it, Amos 
v. 9. Dutch Version. 

The seals of this covenant, by which the promise and 
threatening in it were confirmed, were, 1. The tree of knowledge 
of good and evil, so called, because God, by it, put man to the 
trial of his obedience or disobedience ; and by eating the fruit 
of it, man experimentally knew the good which he had lost, 
and the evil which he had incurred. This, like the seal of the 
rainbow, in Noah's covenant, might only be looked at ; and it 
sealed eternal happiness to men upon condition of fulfilling the 
law of the covenant, and infinite misery if it was broken, Gen. 
ii. 17. 2. The tree of life, the fruit of which perhaps invi- 
gorated the human body ; but certainly was a pledge of an 
eternal life, in consequence of fulfilling the condition of the 
covenant, Gen. iii. 22. ii. 9. And hence Christ as enjoyed in 
heaven is called by its name, Rev. ii. 7. xxii. 2. 



306 OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 

Nothing but sin against God, in want of conformity of heart 
or life, or in transgression of his law, which prescribed the con- 
dition of the covenant, could break it, 1 John iii. 4. Rom. 
iv. 15. v. 13. But, that it hath been broken is evident. 1. Sin, 
in innumerable forms, rages or reigns every where in the 
world, Gen. vi. 5. viii. 21. xiii. 13. 2 Kings xvii. 7 — 23. Psalm 
xiv. 1 — 4. liii. 1 — 4. Isa. lix. 1 — 15. v. 5 — 23. Mic. vii. 1 — 5. 
Matt. xv. 19. Mark vii. 21—23. Rom. i. 28—32. iii. 10 — 18. 
1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. Gal. v. 19—21. Eph. ii. 1—3, .2. iv. 17 — 19. 
v. 5, 6. Phil. iii. 18, 19. Tit. iii. 3- 2 Pet. ii. Rev. xvii. 2. All 
men are by nature imprisoned for their debts and crimts, Isa. 
xlii. 6, 7. lxi. 1, 2. Zech. ix. 11, 15. 3. All men have con- 
tracted a habit of covebant-breaking, Rom. i. 31. Psalm 
lxxviii. 10, 37, 57. Isa. xlviii. 8. 4. This world is every where 
marked with the wrath of God, Rom. i. 18. Gen. vii. xix. 
Exod. vii. — xiv. Josh. vi. — xii. Isa. i. xxiv. xxxiv. Jer. i. — Iii. 
Luke xix. xxi. Matt. xxiv. Rev. vi. — xx. 5. A new cove- 
nant of redemption is revealed by God, Isa. xlii. 6, 7. xlix. 
1—12. liii. 10 — 12. Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. Heb. viii. 10 — 12. 
Psalm xl. 6 — 8. lxxxix. 3, 4. Gen. iii. 15. xvii. 7. 

This covenant of works was broken by Adam's eating the 
forbidden fruit, in which sin he, 1. Doubted the perempto- 
riness and veracity of the threatening, and of God's perfections 
connected with it. 2. His understanding being darkened, his 
affections and will conceived a lust after that fruit, imagin- 
ing that his eating of it would render him wise and happy as 
God. 3. He completed his offence, in his actual taking and 
eating of that fruit, Gen. iii. 3 — 6. This, his first sin, in- 
cluded, 1. Horrid unbelief, insomuch that Satan, in the form 
of a serpent, was believed in opposition to God, 1 John v. 10. 
Gen. ii. 17. iii. 4—6. 2. Pride, ambition, bold and presump- 
tuous curiosity, Gen. iii. 5. Isa. xiv. 13, 14. Our first parents 
were in paradise, and lords of this lower world ; but nothing 
would content them but to be as God. They knew and en- 
joyed very much ; but they coveted the knowledge and enjoy- 
ment of every thing. 3. Shocking ingratitude and discontent- 
ment. They had every thing useful or delightful. They 
were the envy of devils, the companions of angels, lords of 
animals, of every thing on earth, but one tree ; and yet grudged 
their maker and benefactor that small reserve for his own pe- 
culiar property, Gen ii. 7 — 25. iii. 5, 8. 4. Contemptuous 
apostacy from, and open rebellion against God. They re- 
nounced his covenant of friendship, and threw off all subjec- 
tion to, or professed dependence on him, Psalm ii. 3. Gen. ii. 
16, 17. iii. 3 — 6. 5. The whole law of God was broken in 
this one act. 1 he authority of God, which is the foundation 
of it, was trampled on : That love which is the fulfilment of 



OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 207 

it was neglected, and enmity admitted in its stead. The po- 
sitive precept which was a summary of, and fence to the moral 
outs, was contemned, and expressly violated. Nay, in th\s sin, 
every particular command of the moral law was broken in many 
different respects. 

Adam's first sin, by which he brake this covenant, was ex- 
ceedingly aggravated. 1. It was committed by one who had 
been newly created in the image of God, perfectly holy and 
righteous, and able to continue such, Gen. i. 26,27. v. 1. Eccl. 
vii. -9. 2. It was occasioned by fruit of small importance, of 
which Adam had not the least need, 2 Sam. xii. 1—14. 3. 
As it respected that which had been set apart by God for his 
own service, it amounted to a sacrilegious robbing of him, 
Mai. iii. 9. 4. It was committed in paradise, where man had 
every thing delightful and engaging to obedience, — where 
God dwelt as in his temple, and every thing proclaimed his 
infinite kindness to mankind, Deut. xxxii. 15. Hos. xiii. 6. 
5. It was committed on the very day on which he was created, 
or not long after, Psalm xlix. 12. 6. It was committed on a 
single, and but on a slight temptation, Gen. iii. 3 — 6. 7. It was 
committed against God's express command, and the most plain 
warning of the danger, Gen. ii. 17. 8. It was committed 
almost immediately after God had entered into covenant with 
them. 

In this first sin of Adam, I. God left him to the freedom of 
his own will. This freedom of will did not consist in any im- 
mutable, though voluntary, attachment to good, like that 
which God, holy angels, or glorified saints have : nor did it 
consist in having one inward principle inclined to good, and 
another to evil, in the manner of believers on earth ; nor in a 
fixed, voluntary inclination to evil, as devils and wicked men 
have ; — nor even in any equal inclination to good and to evil ; 
for man was made upright, and in the image of God, Eccl. 
vii. 29. Gen. i. 26, 27. v. 1. But, it consisted in his being 
seducible to evil, though he was inclined only to good. God 
created him perfectly holy, and able to keep his whole law, 
natural or positive, and to resist every temptation. He gave 
him a heart wholly and only inclined to that which is good, 
but subject to change, and that only by his own will and 
deed. Natural immutability in goodness and holiness being 
the peculiar property of godhead, could not be conferred on 
Adam, Mai. iii. 6. Psalm cii. 26, 27. James i. 17. God's ren- 
dering him immutable in holiness by an act of grace, in the 
manner of established angels and glorified saints, could not 
have consisted'with the tenour of the covenant made with him ; 
would have confounded his state of service with that of his 
honorary reward. Being therefore thus actually, changeable. 



208 OF THE COVENANT OP WORKS. 

God neither forced, nor tempted, nor inclined him to any 
change, but so left him to himself, that he, and he alone, could 
change the inclination and choice of his own will from good 
to evil. II. Satan very craftily tempted him to evil. 1. He 
chose a subtle and simple-like serpent, or perhaps one very 
beautiful, which might be taken for an angel, to be his instru- 
ment in the temptation ; and to mark his triumphant victory 
over mankind by it, he hath caused multitudes of them, to 
this day, to worship him in serpents. 2. In the absence of 
her husband, he tempted Eve, who, perhaps, had heard the 
terms of the covenant only from Adam. 3. He moved a doubt 
concerning the prohibition of the fruit of the tree of know- 
ledge, in such ambiguous terms, that it was difficult to know 
whether he meant to ask, whether God had really forbidden 
them to eat of that fruit ; or if he meant to insinuate, that the 
forbidder of that excellent fruit could not be the true God, 
who had so lately created them to partake of his favours ; — or 
that God, who had forbidden such a thing, was a hard mas- 
ter. 4. Finding that Eve adhered to God's commandment, 
he laboured to render the truth of the threatening apparendy 
doubtful, if not improbable, or impossible. 5. He pretended 
an earnest desire to promote their knowledge and happiness ; 
and improved the name and sight of the tree to further his 
temptation. 6. Perhaps he pretended, that he had acquired 
his own superiority in knowledge above other brutes by eating 
of that fruit. But he certainly introduced his plain contra- 
diction of God's threatening by a solemn appeal to him con- 
cerning the usefulness of the fruit. 7. Having prevailed on 
Eve, he by her, tempted Adam, who was no doubt the more 
readily deceived, as he saw that she did not immediately die 
by eating of the fruit. III. Being left by God to the free- 
dom of his will, Adam abused it, and complied with Satan's 
temptations. — This compliance was entirely his own deed. 
Though God did not give him such measures of grace, as ac- 
tually to make him overcome the temptation, yet he gave him 
as much as was sufficient to have enabled him to withstand it, 
had it been rightly improved. An infinitely holy, righteous, 
and good God, could neither force, incline, nor tempt him to 
sin. And as he was fully master of his own will, neither Sa- 
tan, nor Eve, could force him to it. 

By this one offence of Adam, the covenant of works was 
broken in different respects. I. The law of the covenant was 
violated in all its parts, — was fully violated in the sinfulness of 
man's nature and act, Gen. iii. 11. ii. 17. 1 John iii. 4. Mat. 
xix. 17. And Adam having sinned as our covenant-head, his 
sin itself in its fault, and in its guilt or chargeableness by law 
in order to "punishment, is really ours, and accordingly is le- 



of the Covenant of works. 209 

gaily imputed to, and charged upon us, by a holy and righteous 
■!. \. Scripture plainly represents this sin as imputed to all 
his natural posterity, Rom. v. 12 — 19- 2. All men are repre- 
sented as under a sentence of condemnation on account of Adam's 
first sin, from which they cannot be delivered but by Christ, l 
Cor. xv. 22. Rom. v. 15 — 19. Eph. ii. 3. Rom. viii. 1 — 4, 33, 34. 
GaL iii. 13. 3. All men are naturally under the power of spiri- 
tual death, in all its ingredients, Gen. vi. 5. viii. 21. Psalm xiv. 
2, 3. liii. 2, 3. Ii. 5. lviii. 3. Job xiv. 4. xv. 14, 15. Jer. xvii. 9. 
John iii. 6. Matt. xv. 19. Mark vii. 21 — 23. Rom. v. 12. viii. 
7, 8. iii. 9—23. 1 Cor. ii. 14. Eph. ii. 1—3. Tit. iii. 3. 4. Ex- 
perience loudly attests the universal corruption of mankind. 
Christ alone excepted, all men, in every age and place, have 
run into moral evil, as soon, and as far, as their abilities and 
opportunities permitted ; and have proceeded from one evil 
to another still worse. — Their inclinations to it being early 
and universal, they have, contrary to the severest laws of God 
and men,— contrary to the dissuasions and determents of pro- 
vidence, — contrary to their most solemn vows, promises, and 
oaths, — contrary to their most candid resolutions, and even 
the largest measures of grace bestowed on earth, spoken and 
done evil things as they could, and thus marked their mind, 
conscience, will, affections, and memory, to be dreadfully in- 
fected with all the above-mentioned plagues, and their bodily 
members ready instruments of unrighteousness. — There are 
manifestly much larger degrees, and measures, and multitudes 
of sins in this world, than of holiness and virtue. Notwith- 
standing all the means used, by God and men, to prevent or 
purge out wickedness, and promote virtue, the most of men, 
in all ages and places, have been manifestlv and often outrage- 
ously wicked; and the very best exceedingly defective. As 

if fond to testify their approbation of Adam's first sin, men 
have universally imitated it in their sinful curiosity, — in their 
rushing upon that which is forbidden, — in their readiness to 
hearken to seduction, — in their bodily eyes, or other senses, 
blinding those of their mind, — in their caring for their body, 
at the expense and eternal hazard of their soul, — in their dis- 
contentment with their present lot, — in their being more easily 
influenced by evil counsel than by good, — in their pitiful shifts 
to help themselves and cover their shame, — in their attempts 
to flee and hide themselves from God, — in their aversion to be 
affected with, or confess their sin, — in their extenuating and 
excusing their sin, and transferring the blame of it upon others, 
especially on God himself. 5. Without supposing men charge- 
able with sin from their very conception, and that their soul 
is formed under a charge of guilt, and a condemning sentence 
of God on account of it, it is impossible to conceive how an 

G g 



210 OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 

infinitely righteous, holy, and good God, could create it desti- 
tute of original righteousness ; — or how our nature, in its very 
formation, becomes corrupted with sin. If we are not formed 
under guilt and the curse, why is not sinful corruption pre- 
vented, and holiness implanted ? 6. The misery and death 
which happen to infants in every age, particularly by the 
flood, the destruction of Sodom and the cities about, and the 
manifold ravages and destructions of cities and nations, prove 
that they are chargeable before God with some grievous trans- 
gression : Otherwise God, who is infinitely merciful, would 
never so early and so wrathfully destroy the most excellent 
work of his hands. 7. The parallel between Adam and Christ 
manifestly proves, that as in Christ elect men fulfil the law, 
and live, so in Ada.n all men are constituted breakers of the 
law, and die, Rom. viii. 4. Gal. ii. 20. i Cor. xv. 21, 22, 45— 
49. Rom. v. 14 — 19. vii. 4. II. The law of the covenant be- 
ing thus broken by Adam, in his own and in the name of all 
his posterity, they lost all encouragement to obedience from 
the covenant-promise of eternal life. The promise being alto- 
gether undermined by his sin, all prospect or hope of the re- 
ward contained in it, and all capacity of earning a claim to it, 
upon the foot of that promise, were for ever utterly lost, Rom. 
iii. 23. viii. 3, 7, 8. III. The blessings of the covenant being 
lost, the favour of God forfeited, and eternal life by the works 
of the law rendered impossible, the curse or condemnatory 
sentence of the covenant seized upon the transgressors, and 
bound them over to death. It seized on Adam and Eve, in 
the first moment of their sinning, Gen. iii. 16 — ly. And it 
lay ready in the threatening to seize their posterity in the 
first moment of their personal existence, or even to bring them 
into existence at their destined moment, in the most wretched 
condition, Rom. v. 12 — -14. Eph. ii. 1—3. Gal. iii. 10. IV. 
The representation in the covenant was dissolved, and every 
particular person of mankind fell bound for himself. Adam, 
being now dead in law, and under the begun reign of spiritual 
death, was no longer fit to continue the head and representa- 
tive of others, in a covenant which was originally ordained 
unto life. — Moreover, the displacing him from his covenant 
headship was necessary, that the covenant of grace might be 
immediately administered, and that he and Eve, with their 
seed, might have the most early, and the most unhampered ac- 
cess to it. 

Nevertheless, the covenant of works was not utterly abolished. 

The law of it, with respect to every thing moral in itself, still 

remained unaltered. — And the demand of infinite satisfaction for 

sin, answerable to the threatened penalty, was superadded t» 

- the original one of perfect obedience, as the absolutely necessary 



OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 211 

.ondition of eternal life. The natural law of the covenant, be- 
ing founded on that relation which subsists between God and 
men as his rational creatures, it behoved to continue while that 
relation continued. — The penalty, flowing troni the very nature 
of God, and corresponding with his relation to men as his sub- 
jects, must be as unalterable as the law itself. 1. Man's sin 
could not deprive God of his rightful sovereign dominion over 
him, or free him from his obligation to due obedience, Psalm 
Ixxxiii. 18. Dan. iv. 35. Job xxxv. 6, 8- 2. The Scriptures 
never hint that this law, in its federal form, was utterly abo- 
lished, but represent it as unalterable, Matt. v. 17, 18. xix. 17. 
Rom. x. 5. iii. 31. viii. 3, 4. Gal. iii. 10, 12, 13. 3. They re- 
present our inability to fulfil the law, not any detachment of 
the promise of life to the fulfiller, from it, as the reason that 
we cannot be justified by it, Rom. iii. 10 — 20. viii. 3, 4. Gal. 
iii. 10 12, 21. 4. Believers 1 entrance into a state of life, or of 
deliverance from this law, is founded upon their complete ful- 
filment of all its demands in Christ their surety, Rom. viii- 3, 

4. vii. 4. X. 4. iii. 31. Phil. iii. 9. 2 Cor. v. 21. In :vain it 

is objected, that man is not now in a friendly covenant with 
God; that God cannot demand from men that which they are 
unable to perform ; that it would be unbecoming a sinful and 
accursed creature to trust in, and love God as his own God. 
For, though man hath forfeited all friendly connection with 
God, he is still his rational creature. Man's disqualifying him- 
self for obedience cannot deprive God of his right to demand it, 
Ought God to be punished with the loss of his authority, if men 
rebel against it ? — Cannot God require obedience of his morally- 
incapable subjects, for wise ends, such as to convince them of 
their sinfulness, and to make their conscience approve their pu- 
nishment ? If God be presented to men as a suitable Saviour, 
why may they not trust in, and love him ? If any thing in God 
be terrible to them, they have themselves to blame for it. From 
the beginning it was not so. Nay, are not the damned in hell 
for ever bound to love God, on account of those very excel- 
lencies which he manifests in their destruction. 

All men are naturally under the covenant of works, in its 
matter and form. 1 . The Scriptures plainly represent them as 
under it. Gal. iii. 10, 12. Matt. xix. 17. Rom. iii. 19- vii. 8, 9. 
2. None but Christ's little flock are represented as delivered 
from, and dead to the law, or covenant of works ; and that 
never till they be united to Christ, in their effectual calling, 
John iii. 18- Rom. viii. 1, 2, 4. vii. 4. vi. 14. Gal. ii. 19, 20. 
iii. 13. iv. 4, 5. Col. iii. 3. It hath been pretended, that if un- 
converted gospel-hearers be under the command of the cove- 
nant of works, they must be required by it to seek justification 



2-12 OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. ' 

by their own works, while at the same time the gospel requires 
them to receive it through the righteousness of Christ. But, 
1. Adam was not required to seek justification by his perfect 
obedience, but to perform it, in hopes of God's graciously accept- 
ing and rewarding him. 2. Though the 'covenant of works had 
required him to seek justification by his own perfect obedience, 
it cannot therefore bind men to seek or expect justification by 
works, the best of which are an abomination to the Lord, Isa, 
Ixiv. 6. Prov. xv. 8. xxi. 24, 27. xxviii. 9. 3. The covenant 
of works cannot now bind men to seek justification by their 
works, when even infinitely valuable obedience cannot satisfy its 
demands, without full satisfaction for offences already commit- 
ted, Heb. ix. 22. Rom. iii. 24—26. v. 6, 8, 10. 1 John iv. 9, 
10. 4. Since the law of the covenant of works requires men 
to believe every thing which God reveals, and to receive what- 
ever he offers ; it must necessarily require every gospel-hearer, 
as utterly unable to fulfil it himself, — to believe the gospel re- 
cord, and receive the law-magnifying righteousness of Jesus 
Christ offered in it, and that under pain of redoubled guilt and 
punishment, John iii. 18, 38. 1 John iii. 23. v. 10, 12. Heb. 
x. 29. 

All men by nature, and even believers, in so far as they are 
unrenewed, desire to be under the covenant of -works, and to ob- 
tain happiness by their own righteousness, or the condition of 
it; 1. It is natural to men, and hence men of every form of 
religion, station, office, education, or manner of life, agree in it, 
Rom. ix. 31, 32. x. 3. Jon. i. 16. Matt. xix. 16. Johnvi. 28. 
Actsii. 37. Luke xv. 19. 2. Our own working or suffering, 
in order to obtain happiness from God, is exceedingly suited to 
the pride of our corrupt nature, and makes us to look on God 
as our debtor, Rom. x. 3. vii. 9, 13. John v. 45. Isa. lviii. 3. 
It is like pangs of death to quit our hold of the law, Rom. vii. 
4, 9. Gal. ii 19. 3. Men's ignorance of the extensive and high 
demands of the broken law, and of their own utter inability to 
keep it, — or their care to abridge their apprehensions of them, 
and to enlarge their conceit of their own ability, mightily pro- 
mote their desire to be under it, Rom. vii. 9 — 13. x. 3. Gal. iv. 
21. 4. Men have naturally a peculiar enmity against God and 
his gracious m:thod of redemption, — against Jesus Christ and 
his whole meditation, particularly his sacrificing work ; and 
hence love to oppose the honour of it by cleaving to legal me- 
thods of obtaining happiness, Rom. viii. 7. John xv. 24. Rom- 
X. 3. ix. 32. v. 21. Gal. ii. 21. v. 2, 4. 

Not only doth the Spirit of God make use of the broken law 
in the awakening, conviction, and illumination of sinners' con- 
sciences, but even in itself it hath a manifold power over them. 
1. It still retains its federal commanding power over them, bind- 



OF HIE COVENANT OF WORKS. 

mg them to fulfil the most perfect obedience, under pain of in- 
finite punishment for the smallest offence, — even while the curse 
of it allows them no spiritual strength, but subjects them to the 
dominion of indwelling sin, Luke x. 27, 28. Gal. in. 10. 2. It 
hath an excluding power, by which it shuts out men from all 
happiness or solid hopes of it, unless its, to them impossible, 
condition of perfect obedience and infinite satisfaction for sin 
be completely fulfilled, Matt. xix. 17. Gal. iii. 10 12, 21. iv. 

24. Rom. x. 5. Mic. vi. 7, 8. It refused to justify Christ upon 
any lower terms, Matt iii. 15. Luke xxiv. 26. Jbeb. v. 8. ii. 10. 

The convincing and distressful influence ol the law upon 

men's consciences, arises from this commanding and excluding 
power of it. 3. It hath an irritating power, by which its com- 
mands and threatenings, fixing on men's consciences, occasion 
their becoming more and more wicked, — even as the stirring of 
wasps' nests makes them rage and sting the more, — the warm- 
ing of serpents renders them more mischievous, — or the shining 
of the sun upon dunghills makes them tht more noisome, Horn, 
vii. 5, 7 — 13. Acts vii. 54. Matt. vii. 6. Hos. xi. 2. In this ir- 
ritating power, the following things are observable: 1. The 
commands and threatenings of the law, being closely applied to 
sinners' consciences, lay them under fearful restraints, acting as 
an austere master, that, with the lash in his hand, issues forth 
his commands, Gal. iii. 10. Isa. iii. 11. Ezek. xviii. 4. Rom. ii. 
8, 9. 2. It doth not in the least remove their enmity against 
God, or inability to obey its commands ; but by its curse fixes 
men under the dominion of indwelling sin, Gal. iii. 22. 1 Cor. 
xv. 56. Rom. vi. 14. vii. 4. viii. 2. John i. 17. 3. Every felt 
restraint of their inward lusts awakens their rage against the 
law, and God the law-giver, on account of the strictness of its 
precepts, and the dreadful nature of its penalty, Rom. iv. 15. 
vii. 5, 7 — 13. Men continuing under the curse, their inward 
lusts, from the opposition made to them, gather strength, — 
even as furious horses become worse when they are checked, or 
wild bulls more outrageous when they feel the net upon them, 
Rom. vii. 5. Hos. iv. 16, 18. Psalm lxxxi. 11, 12. 4. By 
viewing the hard and extensive commands, and the dreadful 
penalty of the law, their corrupt heart, foregoing all its hopes, 
hardens itself in secret despair, like an over-ridden horse, that 
will not answer the spur, but turns and bites his rider, Jer. ii. 

25. Ezek.xxxvii.il. 5. Hence follows an inward rage again&t 
the holiness of God and his law, a frequent abandoning them- 
selves to wickedness, and an improving the most alarming af- 
flictions to render themselves worse and worse, Prov. xxix. 1. 
i. 29. Rom. i. 26—32. 2 Chron. xxviii. 22. Isa i. 5. Jer. v. 3. 

Isa. xlii. 25. 4. The broken law hath a retaining power. 

Its curse and irritating influence concur in holding men under 



214 OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS- 

its dominion and influence. Its connecting eternal happiness 
with personal righteousness, as apprehended by them, suiting 
their proud inclinations, they desire to remain under it, not- 
withstanding its piercing them through with many sorrows. 
Nor do even its most dreadful demands weaken this desire, 
though they make men wish for mitigations of them, Gal. iv. 
21. Rom. ix. 31, 32. x. 3. Matt. xix. 16, 17. Mic. vi. 6, 7. 
Hos. v. 6. 5. The commanding power of the law being tramp- 
led on, it hath a cursing or condemning power over the trans- 
gressor, Gal. iii. 10, 13. Prov. iii. 33. Isa. xxxiv. 5. Deut. 
xxvii. 15 — 26. John iii. 18, 36. Now, to be under this curse, 
includes, 1. To be under the just avenging wrath of God, the 
great Sovereign, Lawgiver, and Judge of the world, John iii. 
36. Psalm vii. 11. Eph. ii. 3. Matt. xxv. 41. Deut. xxix. 20. 

2. To be consigned by an offended and angry God into the 
hands of his avenging justice, to be dreadfully punished without 
intermission till full satisfaction for sin be made, Heb. x. 31. 
2 Thess. i. 7— -9. Luke xii. 58, 59. Mat. v. 25, 26. 3. To be 
separated to evil, having all happiness destroyed, and being 
established a mark or butt of all the arrows and plagues of infi- 
nite wrath, Psalm vii. 12, 13. xxxvii. 20, 22. xciv. 23. 

All men who have not believed in Christ, are under this curse 
or condemning sentence of the broken covenant of works. 
1. Sin, being contrary to the law of God, and his perfections 
therein manifested, richly deserves it, Psalm cxix. 128. Tit. 
ii. 12. Gen. xviii. 25. 2 Thess. i. 6. Psalm cxix. 142. xi. 5 — 7. 
Rom. vi. 23. ii. 2, 8, 9. i, 32. Isa. iii. 11. 2. A sentence of con- 
demnation being annexed to the breach of this covenant, the 
faithfulness of God must see to its full execution, Gen. ii. 17. 

3. If Adam had fulfilled the condition of this covenant, he and 
all his posterity must have been justified^ and adjudged to the 
full possession of eternal life, according to the promise of it, 
Lev. xviii. 5. Rom. x. 5. Gal. iii. 12. Matt. xix. 17. A divine 
sentence of condemnation must therefore necessarily follow up- 
on his non-fulfilment of it, Gen. ii. 17. John iii. 18, 36. Mark 
xvi. 16. Gen. iii. 7. 4. Even the Son of God, when placed under 
this covenant, in the room of sinful men, as their surety, was 
made a curse, that is, laid under all the multitudes of curses due 
to all their sins ; and had them fully executed upon him. And 
it is only through their union to him, as their urse-bearing and 
law-fulfilling Head, that they are freed from the curse, Gal. iii. 
13. iv. 4 — 6. 2 Cor. v. 21. Rom.x. 4. viii. 1,3,4, 33, 34. 1 Cor. 
i. 30. Isa. xlv. 24, 25, 17. 

The condition of those that are under the curse is inexpressi- 
bly dreadful, as it infallibly engages the infinite holiness, jus- 
tice, faithfulness, and power of God, 1. To withhold all real 
good from them, Isa. lix. 2. Jer. ii. 17, 19, 25. 2. To bring 



<*F THE COTENANT OF WORKS. 215 

all real evil upon them in such manner, form, period, and by 
such means as do most contribute to manifest the glory of his 
avenging wrath, Ezek. xviii. 4. Isa. i. 20, 24. iii. 11. Rom. ii. 
8, 9. 2 Thess. i. 7 — 9. Rev. xiv. 9 — 11. xxi. 8. xxii. 15. 3. To 
make all things, however good in themselves, work together to 
promote their misery, Deut. xxviii. 15, 16, 17, 18. Eccl. i. 18. 
Isa. vi. 9, 10. Rom. xi. 32, 33. xi. 8. 1 Pet. ii. 8. — And indeed, 
ae the nature of sin lies in disconformity to the commands of 
God's law, — the nature of punishment lies in its proceeding 
ffwn the curse of it lying on the sufferer. 4. To lay hold on 
all opportunities, in time and eternity, to execute wrath upon 
them in their soul, body, or relatives, Psalm xxxvii. 22. 2 Pet. 
ii. 3. — In the execution of this curse does the administration 
of the broken covenant of works chiefly consist. 

I. In this life the curse of the broken law operates on men, 
and renders their state fearfully sinful and miserable. Even be- 
fore their birth, it, pregnant with wo, secures their future exis- 
tence in a natural union with Adam their accursed progenitor, 
Rom. v. 12. No death of ancestors in wars, diseases, or dan- 
gers, is permitted to prevent their existence ; nor can their pi- 
ety prevent the attendance of the curse, Gen. iv. 11. 14, 17 — 24. 
vi. 4, 5, 3. Psalm li. 5. In virtue of the curse God's providence 
is al ays making preparations for fixing it on each of Adam's 
destined and represented posterity. And hence the most atro- 
cious sinners are often spared, and rendered fruitful, Psalm xvii. 
14. Job xxi. 11. xxvii. 14 — In the moment fixed for their for- 
mation in the womb, the curse as it were, ushers them into be- 
ing, loaded with its dreadful weight, and infected with its bale- 
ful influence, Eph. ii. 3. Deut. xxviii. 18- In consequence of 
which, it all along operates on their soul, their body, their per- 
son, and their relative concerns. 

1 . It operates on their soul. 1 . It separates it from all gra- 
cious and happy intercourse with God, in whose favour is life, 
Psalm xxx. 5. Deut. xxix. 21. Isa. lix. 2. Psalm v. 4 — 6. 
Amos iii. 3. — If God form them under this curse, it prevents 
his communication of any holy endowments to their soul. 
Hence, being formed under sin imputed, and the curse due to 
it, infants are destitute of original righteousness, John iii. 6. 
Job xiv. 4. Psalm li. 5. Eph. ii. 1 — 3 — Whatever influence the 
temper of their bodies may have in forming inward corruptions 
into particular lusts, I know not how sinful corruption could 
enter into our nature, at our very formation, or how it could so 
quickly overspread Adam's whole nature in a moment, but by 
the influence of an incumbent curse, withholding all sanctifying 
communications from God, and subjecting them to an evil con- 
science, and the dominion of sin, as the punishment of his com- 



216 OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 

menced rebellion against God. — Though in their adult age, 
men under the curse, read or hear Christ's word, they hear not 
his voice, John v. 37. — Though they pray to God, he heareth 
not sinners, John ix. 31. — Though they wait at the posts of 
wisdom's doors, in the ordinances of his worship, they are far 
from God himself, Eph. ii. 13. 2. The soul being thus sepa- 
rated from God, spiritual death preys on it, and deprives it of 
all that comeliness it had, and prevents what otherwise it would 
have had. No spiritual knowledge, holiness, or righteousnq^ 
can enter into, or continue in, the accursed soul. Hence how 
quickly the glory of our first parents, like that of the accursed 
fig-tree, withered away ! Gen. iii. 7, 8. All the powers of the 
accursed soul are dead while it liveth. The eyes of the under- 
standing are shut, and, as it were, glazed in a ghastly manner ; 
the speech of cordial prayer and praise is laid : the right pulse 
of affections towards God is stopt ; every spiritual sense is 
locked up, and all within cold and stiff as a stone, Rom. i. 21 
— 32. Eph. iv. 17, 18. Ezek. xi. 19. xxxvi. 26- 3. In conse- 
quence of this death, all the powers of the accursed soul become 
fearfully infected, in the most loathsome manner. The curse 
laying it under the strength and dominion of sin as a chief part 
of its punishment, all its powers, being destitute of true know- 
ledge, righteousness, and holiness, corrupt themselves and one 
another. As the accursed earth and air had their natural con- 
stitution altered to the worse, so is that of the accursed soul, 
with respect to every thing moral. — The understanding, that 
eye, or directing power of the soul, is filled with ignorance, de- 
lusion, doubting, unbelief, vanity, pride, and proneness to false- 
hood, 1 Cor. ii. 14. Eph. v. 8. Eccl. iii. 18. No instruction, 
however important, can thrive on it, Matt. xii. 19 — 22. Isa. 
vi. 9, 10. 2 Cor. iii. 14, 15. iv. 3, 4. It is only in the way of 
removing this curse, that God himself can effectually instruct 
men, Isa. xlviii. 17. Gal. i. 16. iii. 13. ii. 16 — 30. The 
conscience, that deputy of God, which watches over the soul, 
becomes stupid, dumb, erroneous, calling good evil, and evil 
good, — partial, easily bribed, in favours of self, or in pure pre- 
judice against others, Judg. xxi. 25. John xvi. 2. Isa. v. 20 — 22. 
Matt. xi. 18, 19. ; or becomes furious, rigid, and desperate, 
Heb. x. 26, 27. Isa. xxxiii. 14, 15. Matt xxvii. 4. Jer. ii. 25. 
The will, that governing power of the soul, becomes weak 
and incapable with respect to every thing good, Rom. v. 6. 
John xv. 5 ; utterly averse to it, Psalm lxxxi. 11. John v. 40. 
Hos. xi. 2, 7. Jer. v. 3. ; filled with irreconcileable enmity against 
God, in his being, his perfections, his Spirit, his word, his ordi- 
nances, and providences : and what is most shocking, is filled 
with peculiar en-nity against Christ as a Saviour, and against 
every gracious purpose or dispensation of God for our salva- 



OF THE COVENANT OF WORK* 2 1 

tion ; and the more that his redeeming grace appears in any 
thing, as in the priesthood of Christ, or the doctrine of free justi- 
fication and happiness through his imputed righteousness, and 
the free grant of it to sinners in the gospel, the stronger is our 
enmity against it, Rom. viii. 7. i. 30. x. 3. ix. 32. John xv. 
18,24. — It is, moreover, perverse with respect to our chief 
end, fixing on the most trifling and detestable things rather 
than on God himself, Hos. x. 1. Zech. vii. 5. Phil. iii. 19. 
2 Tim. iii. 4. Psalm iv. 6. Rom. viii. 5. ; and so obstinate, that, 
till the curse be removed, not all the terrours or pains of damna- 
tion, or joys of heaven, can bow or melt it, Hos. xi. 2, 7- Zech. 
vii. 11, 12. Isa. xlviii. 4. i. 5. Jer. v. 3. Ezek. xi. 19. xxxvi. 
26. Acts vii. 51. The affections, those feet and arms of the 
soul, how slow towards, and averse from God ! — How shut 
against receiving him or his unspeakable gift, and against every 
spiritual object ! But how alert and ready to fly as hungry 
ravens or eagles on things carnal and sinful, and to grasp them 
fast as our all in all ! Psalm iv. 6. Ezek. xxxiii. 31. Prov. xxiii. 
5. Phil. iii. 19. Rom. viii. 5. The memory, that magazine and 
register of the soul, how strong to retain things trifling or sin- 
ful which tend to corrupt ! and how treacherous and incapable 
to retain any thing truly good and important ! Jer. ii. 32. 

Deut. xxxii. 18. Hos. xiii. 6. In these three respects, 

Adam's nature, in the first moment of his sinning, was, and in^ 
fants' souls in the very moment of their formation are, corrupt- 
ed. 4. The soul being reduced to this loathsome and dreadful 
condition, the curse shuts it up from all inclination, care, or 
ability of attempting any thing proper for recovering itself, or 
receiving redemption from another. It shuts up men in unbe- 
lief as in a prison or grave, Gal. iii. 22, 23. Rom. xi. 32. Isa. 
lxi. 1. xlii. 6, 7. Ezek. xxxvii. 12, 13. Zech. ix. 11, 12. Being 
thus buried in sinful corruption, God himself seals them up, 
and secures their continuance in it, Psalm lxxxi. 11, 12. Isa. 
lxvi. 4. 2 Thess. ii. 10 — 12. No door of hope remains, except 
in the way of his removing the curse, Ezek. xviii. 4. Gal. iii. 
10, 13. Rom. ii. 8, 9. Isa. iii. 11. Nay, every attempt to es- 
cape any other way doth but fix them more and more in their 
dreadful estate. — If they hear the gospel, it is to them a savour 
of death unto death, blinding and hardening their heart, 2 Cor. 
ii. 16. Hos. vi. 5. Isa. vi. 9, 10. xlii. 19, 20, 25. Rom. xi. 7, 8, 
9. If they pray, it is an abomination to the Lord, and draws 
down his wrath. If thev offer the most costly sacrifices to him, 
he abhors them, Prov. xxviii. 9. xv. 8, xxi. 27. Isa. i. 11 — 15. 
lxv. 13. Hos. v. 6. Mic. vi. 6, 7. 5. The accursed soul, being 
thus dead and buried in sin, its corruption more and more in- 
creases, 2 Tim. iii. 13. ii. 16. Matt. xii. 45. 2 Pet. ii. 20. That 
sinfulness of nature which dwells, reigns, and works in them, 

H h 



218 OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 

is framed into a multitude of particular lusts of the flesh and of 
the spirit, — correspondent with their bodily constitution, as vi- 
tiated by their own or parents' drunkenness, lasciviousness, out- 
rageous passion, &c. — or correspondent with their particular 
circumstances, opportunities, temptations, &c. 2 Cor. vii. 1. 
Rom. vi. 12. 1 Pet. ii. 11. iv. 3. 2 Pet. ii. 18. Eph. ii. Gal. v. 
19 — 21, 24. Rom. viii. 13. xiii. 14. — These lusts are the mem- 
bers of the old man or body of sin, Col. iii. 5. Rom. i. 29, 30. — 
are inward tinder, answering to the sparks of Satan's tempta- 
tions, John xiv. 30. Prov. xxviii. 26. — filthy matter, gathering 
into a shameful bile of wickedness, James i. 14. Matt. xv. 19. 
Mark vii. 21 — 23. Jer. iv. 14. vi. 7.— and constant opposers of 
the entrance or outgoing of any thing good, Gal. v. 17. Rom. 
vii. 23, 24. — They are represented as diverse, because of their 
manifold forms, Tit. iii. 3. ; ungodly, detested by God, contrary 
to his nature and law, and to the love and fear of him, Jude 18. 
1 John ii. 16. ; devilish, introduced and supported by Satan, and 
his very image on the soul, John viii. 44. ; warring against the 
providence, Spirit, and grace of God, and against men's souls, 
and even among themselves, James iv. 1. Gal. v. 17. Rom. vii. 
23. 1 Pet. ii. 11.; worldly, reigning in the hearts of worldly 
men, and leading them towards the world as their portion and 
pattern, Tit. ii. 12. ; insatiable, Isa. lvii. 10. EccL i. 8. ; deceitful, 
Eph. iv. 22. ; hurtful, piercing men through with many sorrows, 
1 Tim. i. 9, 10. ; burning them up, Rom. i. 27. ; and drowning 
them in perdition, 1 Tim. vi. 9. — These lusts, receiving their 
dominion from the curse of the law upon the one hand, and 
from the choice of the sinner on the other, constantly reign, 
work, and manifest themselves, as they have opportunity, like 
an uncultivated garden, which brings forth briars, thorns, net- 
tles, and other noxious weeds, Matt. xv. 19. Mark vii. 21 — 23. 
Rom. i. 21— 32. iii. 10—18. Gal. v. 19—21. 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. 
Eph. ii. 1—3, 12. iv. 17 — 19. Prov. xxiv. 30, 31.; they become 
more and more powerful, till they be altogether uncontrol- 
able, Tit. iii. 3. 2 Pet. ii. 13, 14, 22. And that particular 
lust, which, from man's constitution, station, or circumstances, 
most easilv besets, and most powerfully influences their con- 
duct, is called their predominant lust, Heb. xii. 1. Psalm xviii. 
23. 6. For the just punishment of man's progress in wicked- 
ness, God, in the execution of his curse, iuflicts additional 
plagues on them. Some of these plagues are not felt, but loved 
and delighted in, though dreadful in their nature, and answer- 
able to former wickedness, Isa. vi. 9, 10. Psalm lxxxi. 11, 

12. Isa. i. 5. Jer. v. 3. To punish man's not receiving, but 

rebelling against the light of his word, or of their own con- 
science, God gives them up to judicial blindness of mind, John 
iii. 18. Job xxi. 14. Eph. iv. 18. 2 Thess. ii. 10, 11. 2 Cor. 



or THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 219 

iv. S, 4. Isa. vi. 9, 10. xlii. 19, 20, 25. Matt. xiii. 11. Acts 

xxviii. 27. John xii. 40. Rom. xi. 7 — 10. To punish their 

not receiving the love of the truth, but holding it in unrighte- 
ousness, he gives them up to strong- delusions and vile practices, 
2 Thess. ii. 10 — 12. Isa. lxvi. 4. Psalm lxxxi. 11, 12. Hos. iv. 
17. Rom. i. 18—32. To punish their hardening them- 
selves in sin, he gives them up to judicial hardness of heart, that 
neither his word nor his providence affects them, Rom. ix. 18. 
Isa. lxiii. 17. ; withholding his grace from them, Deut. xxix. 
4. ; blasting to them his ordinances, these means of softening 
hearts, Hos. iv. 17. Rom. xi. 8, 9. Isa. vi. 9, 10. ; exposing 
them to temptations, Deut. ii. 30. Psalm cix. 6. Rev. xx. 7, 8. ; 
and suffering them to prosper in their wickedness, Psalm lxxiii. 
2 — 12. Job xxi. 7 — 15. Deut. xxxii. 15 — 18. Jer. xii. 1. xliv. 
17. Mai. iii. 15. Psalm xxxvii. Z5. — To punish their contempt 
of, and rebellion against the checks, the alarms and rebukes of 
their conscience, he gives them up to a spirit of slumber, and a 
conscience seared as with an hot iron, which neither feels, nor 
reproves them for their commission of the most horrid crimes, 
Rom. xi. 8. 1 Tim. iv. 2. Gen. vi. 3. — To punish their indul- 
gence of vileness in their affections, even contrary to the striv- 
ings of their conscience, he gives them up to vile affections, dis- 
posing them to the most shocking lewdness, or the like, Num. 
i. 26, 27. Eph. iv. 19. v. 12. 1 Cor. vi. 9. Gal. v. 19. 1 Pet. 

iv. 3. 2 Pet. ii. 14. Jude 7 To punish their sinning against 

common sense and rational conviction, he gives them up to a 
reprobate mind or sense, Rom. i. 27. 2 Tim. iii. 8. Tit. i. 16. — 
To punish their ready compliance with Satan's temptations, he 
gives him power to stand at their right hand, and reduce them 

to his peculiar slavery, Psalm cix. 6. 2 Tim. ii. 26. Other 

spiritual plagues, which God inflicts on them, are of the tor- 
menting kind, as discontentment, which the peace of God not 
ruling their heart, as it were, draws harrows of iron over their 
soul, making it impatient, fretful, and given to murmur at 
every trifle, Jude 16. Psalm xxxvii. 1 — 7- Esth. iii. 5. v 13. 

vi. 12. Col. iii. 15. Phil. iv. 17 From this inward gnawing 

hunger and painful thirst after happiness, while the curse de- 
bars them from it, proceed inward wrath and rage, which, like 
a sword or arrow, pierce them to the heart, and are as fire in 

their bosom, Job v. 2. Isa. xlviii. 21. : Anxiety of mind, 

which racks their soul, stretching it, as it were, on tenter hooks, 
men being torn asunder by the contention of inward lusts, 
Esth. v. 13. Luke viii. 14. Psalm vii- 14. ; and by their appre- 
hensions of their spiritual or their eternal state, Acts ii. 37. 
xvi. 30. Heb. x- 27, 28. Isa. xxxiii. 14. : — Sorrow of the world, 
occasioned by temporal losses, disappointments, and troubles, 
2 Cor. vii. 10. ; or by their envy at the prosperity of others, 



220 OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 

Job v. 2. Col- iii. 5. ; or legal sorrow, arising from slavish fears 
of death and hell, Matt, xxvii. 3, 4. Isa. xxxiii. 14. : — Terr our 
of heart, under apprehensions of approaching misery, Gen. iv. 14. 
Deut, xxviii. 65 — 67- Jer. xvii 17. xx. 4. Luke xxi. 26. Heb. 
x. 26, 27, 31. Isa. xxxiii. 14.: — Horr our of conscience, arising from 
awful convictions of guilt, felt impressions pi God's wrath in- 
flicted, or views of its certain and speedy approach, Isa. xxxiii. 
14. xxxviii. 14. Prov. xviii. 14. Heb. x. 26, 27. ; which is either 
more confused, as in Herod, Matt. xiv. 1, 2.; transient, as in 
Felix, Acts xxiv. 25- ; or abiding and violent, as in Judas, Matt. 

xxvii. 3, 4. : and in fine, despair, Isa. xvii. 11. Heb. X. 26 — 

31. Isa. xxxiii. 14. Ezek. xxxvii. 11. Jer. ii. 25. 2 Kings vi. 34. 
2. Man's body, that once glorious habitation of his soul, hav- 
ing partaken of forbidden fruit, swallowed down death, and be- 
came suddenly cursed, Deut. xxviii. 16, 18, 19. Hence, 1. There 
often befals it a deforming variation from the original happy 
constitution, — by deafness, blindness, lameness, &c. And it is 
merely owing to the sovereign mercy of God that all our bo. 
dies are not affected with it, 1 Cor. iv. 7. John ix. 3. 2. Its 
animal csnstitution is changed into a correspondence with the 
sinful lusts of that soul with which it is united, and hence is 
called a vile body and sinful flesh, Phil. iii. 21. Rom. viii. 3. And 
being corrupted by the soul, it is a snare to it, occasioning such 
multitudes of filthy lusts, drunkenness, gluttony, and unchasti- 
ty, that its rational powers are, as it were, depressed into a 
mire of corrupted flesh and blood, Rom. vii. 14, 23, 24. 3. Be- 
ing thus changed, man's body, under the influence of the curse, 
becomes a vessel of dishonour. The drunkard renders it a com. 
mon sewer or sink ; the glutton makes it a filthy draught 
house ; the covetous renders it a drudged and weary beast ; 
the passionate renders it a burning slime pit, a lake of fire and 
brimstone ; the unchaste renders it a furious stallion, a leche- 
rous dog, or an abominable swine ; the brawler renders it an 
accursed serpent to hiss forth revenge, Rom. iii. 9 — 18. i. 26 — ■ 
28. 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. Gal. v. 19—21. Tit. iii. 3. 1 Pet. iv. 3. 
Jer. v. 7, 8. Deut. xxiii. 18. 2 Pet. ii. 2, 22. Thus, it is the 
slave of manifold, cruel, and oppressive lusts, even while it, 
contrary to nature, appears to command the soul, 2 Pet. ii. 19. 
4. The curse from every quarter, — from air, from earth, from 
sea, from beasts, from men, from angels, both good and bad, 
darts its empoisoned arrows, and heaps mischief upon men's bo- 
dies,— famine, war, pestilence, diseases, desolations, captivities, 
imprisonments, dangers, wounds, bruises, pains, &c. Deut. 
xxviii. 15— .68- Lev. xxvi. 14 — 39. 2 Kings x. 2. vii. 29. 2 Chron. 
xxi. 19- Acts xii. 23. 5. Meanwhile, the accursed body itself 
is a seed-plot of misery, and its inward corruption, especially 
when it meets with correspondent outward circumstances, works 



OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. SSI 

Into unnumbered diseases, and renders our world a kind of hos- 
pital, Deut. xxviii. 22. Lev. xxi. It — 20. Matt. iv. 24. 6. Man's 
body, being thus infected, becomes a remarkable clog to his seul 
in all its attempts towards spiritual exercises or happiness. Its 
weakness or weariness occasions slumber, sleeping, or uneasi- 
ness in the worship of God. Cares for its welfare or honour, 
prevent serious care or thoughtiulness about things spiritual 
or eternal. Its health and sickness, in different forms, hinde% 
concern about true and everlasting happiness, Mai. i. 13. Matt, 
xxvi. 40, 43. vi. 26—34. Luke x. 40, 41. xii. 16—20. 

3. Men's persons and all their relutive concerns are affected 
by this curse. 1. They themselves, soul and body, are thereby, 
and from their own choice, the subjects aifd slaves of Satan, — 
his lawful and sure captives, plagued with his delusions, ha- 
rassments, and drudgery, 2 Tim. ii. 26. Isa. xlix 24. Ixi. 1. : 
who cannot be delivered from his additional chains and burdens, 
but by the infinite merits, the almighty power and grace of 
Christ, Zech. ix. 11. Isa. xlix. 24, 25, 26. Matt. xii. 29. 
2. Every thing connected with their accursed person is accursed 
to them for their sake. Their character is cursed with shame 
and dishonour, and the higher they rise in the world, this the 
more remarkably appears, Psalm lvii. 4. Job v. 2. Deut. xxviii. 
27. Psalm xxii. 6. lxix. 19, 20. — The employment of their mind 
or hand, as cursed, issues in vanity or mischief, Deut. xxviii. 1 7. 
Hag. i. 6, 7- Eccl. i. 13. — Their substance, being cursed, groans 
to escape out of their hands, is consumed by a secret fire of 
God's wrath, or flies toward heaven to bear witness against the 
abusers of it, Rom. viii. 21. Job x. 26. Prov. xxiii. 5. Hos. 
ii. 9. — Their outward lot, whether prosperous or afflicted, as 
cursed, decoys or drives their soul from God, Job xxi. 8 — 15. 
Deut. xxxii. 15 — 18. Hos. xiii. 6. Luke xii. 16 — 20. Prov. i- 
32. 2 Chron. xxviii. 22. 2 Kings vi. 33. Job xxxv. 10. Isa. i. 
5. Jer. v. 3. xliii. xliv. — The word and ordinances of God, 
these means of grace and salvation, and all the opportunities of 
attending them, are cursed to them, and tend to their hurt, 
2 Cor. ii. t6- Rom. xi. 9. Psalm lxix- 22, 23. Isa. vi. 9, 10. 
2 Thess. ii. 11, 12. 2 Pet. ii. 20—22. John xv. 22, 24. Matt. 
xi. 21 — 23. 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. Their relations being cursed to 
them, increase their misery in different forms. Magistrates are 
oppressors, entanglers of conscience, a praise to evil doers, and 
a terrour to them that do well. Ministers are unfaithful, un- 
watchful, unactive, unsuccessful, or deceiving. Neighbours are 
unjust, selfish, and mischievous. Being unequally yoked, hus- 
bands are such sons of Belial, that one cannot speak to them ; 
and wives such brawlers, continual dropping and rottenness, 
that one cannot live with them. Children are a reproach and 
grief to parent?, arrows to pierce their hearts, and robbers to 



222 OP THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 

waste their substance. Daughters, like carved palaces in come- 
liness, and corner-stones in connecting families, fall on parents' 
heads, and crush them with expenses and grief, 1 Sam. viii. 11 
— 17. Prov. xxix. 2 — 16. Ezek. xiii. xiv. Isa. ix. 15, 16. Jer. 
vi. 13, 14. Mic. ii. 11. iii. 11. 2 Cor. ii. 14. 1 Sam. xxv. 17. 
Mai. ii. 11 — 16. Prov. xix. 13. xxvii. 15. xxi. 19. xxv. 24. 
xii. 4. x. 1, 5. xv. 20. xvii. 2, 25. xiii. 1. xix. 26. xxvii. 7, 
•24. Hos. iv. 13, 14. Mic. vii. 5. Gen. xxxiv. xxxvii. xxxviii. 
2 Sam. xiii. xv. xvi. 21, 22. 3. They are in perpetual danger 
of still greater misery than that which they are under, — being 
waited for by the sword, the vengeance of God ; and having 
snares every where laid for them, Rev. iii. 17. John iii. 18, 36 
Jer. xx. 3,4. Psalm vii. 11 — 14. Job. xviii. xx. 4. Being in 
prison and without strength, they cannot escape, but must 
slide in due time, be suddenly hurried out of their place, 
driven away in their wickedness, and swept into hell by the 
storm and flood of God's wrath, Deut. xxxii. 35. Prov. i. 26 
xiv. 32. 

II. After this lire, the curse operates on men in a still more 
dreadful manner. 1. In consequence of soul and body combining 
in rebellion against God, the curse, in death, makes an unhap- 
py separation between them. It is, 1. A most ruinous stroke 
from the hand of an angry God. Men, having trusted their 
life to the broken covenant of works, its curse tumbles them 
headlong into the hands of his wrath, Job xviii. 18. Heb. x. 
31. 2. A final breaking up of all treaty between God and 
them, relative to dieir eternal salvation. In death, the curse 
fixes an impassible gulf between him and them, sets his seal 
to the proclamation of an eternal war with them, and indisso- 
lubly girds itself about them as a dreadful serpent to crush 
them for ever, Luke xvi. 26. 3. A conclusion of all their 
comfort, which draws an immovable bar between them and 
it, — quenches their coal, and puts out all their light, that 
darkness may for ever dwell in their tabernacle, Luke xvi. 25. 
Job xviii. 17, 18. 4. The kingofterrours, armed with all that 
strength which he can derive from sin, and from the holy and 
just law of God. When men die under the guilt of sin, God's 
justice and power must chase them into everlasting fire. When 
they die under the dominion and pollution of their lusts, these, 
as tormentors must attend them to the lowest hell, Job xviii, 
14. Prov. xiv. 32. 5. A fearful passage into everlasting mi- 
sery. By death the curse opens a trap-door under smners, 
that they may fall into the bottomless pit, and be swallowed up 
in unfathomable depths of misery, Luke xvi. 22, 23 

2. Immediately after death, man's soul is, by the power of 
the curse, haled to the judgment-seat of God, to receive its 



OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 223 

particular sentence of eternal damnation, Heb. ix. 27. Eccl. 
xii. 7. Matt. xxv. 41. In this, 1. All their sins are brought 
forth, as out of a sealed bag, in which they had been carefully 
preserved, Hos. xiii. 12. Amos viii. 7. Job xiv. 16, 17. 2. 
Every sin appears drawing a curse after it. Alas, what un- 
numbered cords of damnation ! Gal. iii. 10. Rom. vi. 23. 
3. There being no more a throne of grace, or advocate with 
the Father, for them, they, having sinned by the law, must 
perish by the law, and be appointed to enter into eternal fire, 
as workers of iniquity, Luke xiii. 25 — 28. Psalm xi. 5. Matt, 
vii. 23. Prov. xiv. 32. Isa. xxxiii. 14. 

3. Their condemned soul is lodged in hell by the power of 
the curse, now irrevocably confirmed by God, Luke xvi. 23. 
1. Their soul is lodged here as in a prison, securing it for the 
last judgment, 1 Pet. iii. 19. 2. All the dregs of God's wrath 
shall be wrung out by the influence of the curse, and poured 
into it, Psalm lxxv. 8. 3. It shall be fixed among other 
damned spirits, devoted to eternal ruin by a like curse, Matt. 
xxv. 41. 4. The happiness which it hath irrecoverably lost, 
for a trifle or worse, shall now appear in its full value, as an 
aggravation of torment, Luke xvi. 23, 25, 26. 5. Conscience 
being fully awakened to sleep no more, shall fasten upon the 
damned soul the most terrible convictions of his former sinful- 
ness, and apprehensions of the wrath of God, Mark ix. 44, 46, 
48. 6. All the powers of their soul shall lie under the un- 
restrained influence of its sinful lusts, and the tormenting pas- 
sions of pride, grief, envy, rage, anguish, despair, which at- 
tend them, Prov. xiv. 32. Matt. xxii. 13. viii. 12. Rev. xvi. 
10, 21. Isa. viii. 21. 7. While the souls of the wicked are 
tormented in hell, their sins, in the practice of every one who 
hath been directly or indirectly drawn into sin by their means, 
shall, till the last judgment, continue increasing on earth, Mie. 
vi. 16. 2 Kings x. 29, 31. 

4. Mean while, their body, being buried under the curse, 
1. The grave is no bed of rest, no hiding-place to it, as to the 
bodies of saints, Isa. lvii. 2. Rev. xiv. 13. But it is there 
shut up as a malefactor in a prison till the last judgment, 
Psalm xlix. 14. 2. Sin and guilt continue upon it, without 
any possibility of removal, Job.xx. 11. Ezek. xxxii. 27. 3. It 
is corrupted in the grave by the influence of the curse, Job 
xxiv. 19. 

5. No part of their debt to the precept or penalty of the 
broken covenant of works being paid, the bodies of the wicked 
shall be raised again to life under this curse, at the last day. • 
1. By virtue of this condemning sentence, they shall be pro- 
duced and brought forth, as malefactors, to everlasting pu- 
nishment, John v. 29. Rev. xx. 13. Dan. xii. 2, 2. Having 



324 OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 

in their former life been instruments of unrighteousness, they 
shall now be marked with sin as unclean vessels, perhaps each 
with his predominant lust, Isa. lxvi. 24. 3. The union be- 
tween soul and body shall be renewed with inexpressible an- 
guish to both. 4. Who knows what terrible appearances the 
anguish of their souls, and the immediate impressions of the 
wrath of God, may give to these bodies ? Rev. vi. 16. 17. Isa. 
xxxiii. 14. xiii. 8. viii. 21, 22. 

6. In the last judgment, sinners shall appear under the, 
power of the curse, as damned malefactors, before the tribunal 
of Christ. 1. Their station at his left hand shall, with its 
shame and disgrace, mark them accursed, Dan. xii. 2. Matt. 
xxv. 33. 2. The curse interposing between him and them, 
shall render his appearance most terrible, — as a devouring 
lion, — a consuming fire : and the more curses interpose, his 
appearance will be the more terrible, Rev. i. 7. vi. 16, 17. 
Psalm 1. 22. 3. To manifest the infinite equity of the curse, 
in its publick proclamation and eternal execution, all the sinful 
qualities, thoughts, words, and actions of the wicked, and 
which they have directly or indirectly encouraged or approv- 
ed in others, shall be plainly stated to their account, Eccl. xii. 
14. Rom. xiv. 12. 2 Cor. v. 10. Rev. xx. 12. 4. In conse- 
quence hereof, the curse shall be solemnly proclaimed by Christ, 
and ordered- into immediate full execution, Matt. xxv. 41—46. 
Rev. xx. 12, 13. 

7. While, by virtue of the condemnatory sentence now ripe 
for full execution, the holy angels shall drive, and the devils 
drag them, from the judgment-seat of Christ, Matt. xiii. 41, 
42. xxii. 13. the curse which had all along infected this lower 
world, shall kindle it into a universal flame, to give the trans- 
gressors their last, their terrible adieu. By this means the earth, 
the sea, and the air, shall get rid of the curse ; and all that 
vanity and corruption, which had long infected them, shall be 
returned in inexpressible vengeance, on the wicked, .who had 
occasioned it, and all sin and misery shall thenceforth be con- 
fined in hell, 2 Pet. iii. 10, 13. 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. Psalm 1. 3. 
Rom. viii. 21 — 23. Rev. xx. 14, 15. 

8. In hell the curse of this broken covenant of works shall 
for ever prey upon the united squl and body of the wicked, in 
its full strength, Psalm lxxv. 8. Rev. xiv. 10, 11. 1. By it 
the infernal pit, having received them, shall close its mouth 
upon them, and shut them up as in a fiery oven, Num. xvi. 
32. Matt. xiii. 30. Psalm xxi. 9. 2. As a dreadful partition, 

• it shall for ever exclude all exercise of God's mercy and pa- 
tience from among them, Matt. xxv. 41. Hos. ix. 12. 3. 
Hence all sanctifying and sin-restraining influences shall be for 
ever stopt from them ; and God shall abandon them to the 



OF THE COVENANT OF WORKS. 225 

full fury of their lusts, while they shall have nothing to satisfy 
them, Matt. xxii. 13. Rev. xvi. 21. 4. As the breath of the 
Lord, it shall for ever blow up the fire of his indignation on 
them ; and fix the envenomed arrows of his wrath in them, 
Isa. xxx. 33. Rev. xiv. 11. 5. It shall prolong their misery 
into eternal duration, and dreadfully uphold them in bearing it, 
and perhaps perpetually render it more and more tormenting, 
Rev. xiv. 1 1. Luke xii. 59. Matt. v. 26. xxv. 41 — *6. 2 Thess. 
i. 9. Mark ix. 44, 46, 48. Isa. xxxiii. 14. 

Though the condition of the saints, and of the wicked in 
death, and that which precedes it, be often apparently similar, 
yet every thing which the saints meet with, or the manage- 
ment of it by God, proceeds from his love and justifying sen- 
tence. — Sinful plagues are the choice and delight of the wicked; 
but they are the heavy burden of believers, Rom. vii. 14 — 24. 
Psalm xxxviii. 4. xl. 12. 

Reflect. Having thus far compassed the flaming mount, 
and traversed the paths of condemnation, hast thou, my soul, 
believed and trembled ? Knowest thou these terrours of the 
Lord, that thou mayest persuade men ? Am I still under ? 
or, have I escaped from this broken covenant ? — this tremen- 
dous curse ? Know I when, and how, Jesus Christ removed 
it, and all its dreadful effects, from my heart ? — when, and 
how, he plucked me as a brand out of the fire, cleansed and 
washed me in his blood ? What experience have I of the 
translation of the curse from my person to my Saviour, and 
through him, to my sins, for their destruction ? — Thrice dread- 
ful, but — heart.melting thought, Was Jesus, was Jehovah 
made a curse — for me ? Stop then, my soul, and in the most 
awful mode, devote thyself to him. Bear me witness, ye listen- 
ing angels, you Omniscient three, that I consent to be only 
his, — wholly his, — for ever His, as made of God to me, 
wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption. 
If I love not this Lord Jesus, let me be Anathema Maranatha. 
Dare not, my soul, to enter on the sacred work, without having 
tasted of the wormwood and the gall :— without having tasted 
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of my sins, 
according to the riches, — the exceeding riches of his grace. - 
How tremendous the charge of dealing between God and 
men, — men who are under his awful curse ! What deep com- 
passion ! What prayers and supplications, with strong cries 
and tears to him that is able to save them from death ! What 
earnest and unremitting labour ! What simplicity of the gospel ! 
What travelling in birth till Christ be formed in their souls, is 
necessary here ! 

I 5 



226 OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 



CHAP. II. 

Of the Covenant of Grace, in the Making and 
Administration of it. 

MAN'S ruin being wholly of himself by his sin, and his dam- 
nation being infinitely just, it was impossible, that his reco- 
very should proceed from God by any necessity of nature. 
He is indeed naturally good and merciful, but it was not ne- 
cessary that this goodness and mercy should be manifested in 
the infinitely costly, the eternal redemption of his malicious 
enemies, that sought his life. — As infinitely holy, righteous, 
and faithful, he might have punished every sinful creature 
with everlasting destruction, Psalm xi. 5. — Being infinitely and 
independently blessed in himself, their ruin could not have 
impaired his happiness, Exod. iii. 14. John v. 26. 1 Tim. vi. 
15, 16. i. 11. Nevertheless, if the whole of mankind had been 
eternally ruined, his wisdom and goodness in his creation of 
them, had not so clearly shone forth. To have created a 
whole kind of rational beings, not one of which answered the 
end of their formation, in glorifying and enjoying himself; or 
to have been seemingly disappointed of his immediate end, 
with respect to the whole of them, would not have convinc- 
ingly manifested his infinite wisdom, at least to his enemies. 
■ If not one of them had shared his eternal favour, how 
obscure had the manifestation of his infinite goodness been 
among them ? — In vain it is pretended, that in such a case, 
God would have immediately swept Adam and Eve into hell, 
and so prevented the damnation of millions. — As in making 
the covenant of works with Adam, God had in his view every 
particular person represented in it, — his equity and faithful- 
ness required, that, if the conditions had been fulfilled, every 
one of them should be brought into being to receive his share 
of the promised reward ; — even as the covenant of grace se- 
cures the same, with respect to those represented by Christ, 
Isa. liii. 10. Psalm ii. 8. xxii. 27 — 31. lxxxix. 4. — In like man- 
ner, when this covenant of works was broken, God's equity 
and faithfulness secured the existence of all the representees un- 
der the curse, to receive their share of the deserved penalty. 

If God, in his sovereign mercy and grace, intended to recover 
any pail of self-ruined mankind, he could not have renewed 
the covenant of works, or entered into any other with them- 
selves, as immediate parties. 1. Their infamous character, as 
sinners, rendered it dishonourable for him to have any imme- 
diate dealings with them. 2. The terms of the covenant of 



OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 227 

works, through their breach of it, became altogether impractica- 
ble ; pei"fect obedience to all its precepts could not be performed, 
and full satisfaction for the infinitely criminal violation of it 
could not be rendered ; — no part of which could be fulfilled by 
any finite person, Gal. iii. 10. Psalm xlix. 7. 3. Partly by 
the curse of" the broken law lying on their conscience, as the 
strength of sin, — and paitly by the reign of corruption in 
their heart, all men in their fallen state are absolutely inca- 
pable of performing any thing spiritually good, or even of 
ceasing from that which is morally evil, 1 Cor. xv. 36. Rom. 
viii. 7, 8. Jobxiv. 4. Jer. xvii. 9. Matt. xv. 19. xix. 24. Eph. ii. 
1 — 3, 12. 4. The whole structure of the covenant of works 
being of God, his holiness^ equity, and faithfulness were deep- 
ly interested in the securing its honour. Infinite holiness 
could not bear with the wanton violation of the holy and good 
commandment delivered to Adam, Hab. i. 13. Jer. xliv. 4. 
Rom. vii. 12. Infinite justice could not forbear punishing so 
horrid a crime, Gen. xviii. 25. Deut. xxxii. 4. Psalm xi. 5 — 7. 
Infinite faithfulness could not dispense with the execution of 
that death which was doubly secured in the threatening, Gen. 
ii. 17. Tit. i. 2. Num. xxiii. 19. 1 Sam. xv. 29. 2 Tim. ii. 13. 
It was therefore necessary, that any covenant for the redemp- 
tion of fallen men should be made with a divine person, who 
could infallibly secure, and, in the same nature which had sin- 
ned, would fully pay the debt, as stated from the broken co- 
venant of works, Psalm xl. 6 — 8. Isa. liii. 4, 5, 10 — 12. Rom. 
viii. 3, 4. 1 Thess. v. 9, 10. Gal. ii. 20. Acts xx. 28. Tit. ii. 
14. Heb. ii. 10, 11, 14, 16. vii. 22. ix. 15. Matt. xx. 28. 
2 Cor. v. 21. 1 Pet. ii. 24. iii. 18, i. 18, 19. Rev. i. 5- 
v. 9. 

That misery into which all men plunged themselves by sin, 
was the occasion of God's making a new covenant for their re- 
demption, Eccl. vii. 29. Gen. iii. 1 — 19. Hos. xiii. 9. Eph. ii. 
1—10. i. 7. Rom. iii. 9—20, 23, viii. 3, 7, 8. v. 12—21- Tit. iii. 
3, 4. But his own amazing love and sovereign grace was the 
cause and spring of it, Psalm xl. 5. cxxxvi. 23. Jer. xxxi. 3, 
20, 33. Isa. liv. 8—10. lxiii. 7. John iii. 16- 1 John iv. 9, 10, 
19. Luke ii. 14. Eph., i. 6, 7. ii. 4 — 8. And hence it is com- 
monly called the covenant of grace. Originating from the 
mere grace of God, and contracted between two divine persons, 
it was made from all eternity. Hence, 1. Christ is represented as 
haviug his goings forth from of old, from everlasting, Mic. v. 2. 
as set up from everlasting, Prov. viii. 23. and foreordained be- 
fore the foundation of the world, 1 Pet. i. 20. 2. Grace and 
eternal life are represented as promised, as given before the 
world began, 2 Tim. i. 9. Tit. i. 2 — and the kingdom of hea- 
ven as prepared for men, and their names as enrolled in the book 



228 OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 

of life, — before the foundation of the world, Matt, xxv- 34. 
Rom. ix. 23. Rev. xiii. 8. This covenant of grace is never- 
theless called the second covenant, because, though it was first 
made, it is last executed, the breach of the covenant of works 
necessarily preceding the entrance of this. And it is called the 
new covenant for much the same reason, and because of its ever- 
lasting stability and excellency, Heb. viii. 6 — 13. Jer. xxxi. 
31—34. 

As this covenant took its rise from the infinite, the equal of 
all the three divine persons, they were equally employed in the 
making of it, and took their respective shares in the work of it, 
John iii. lb. Gal. ii. 20. Rom.xv. 30. It is manifest that the 
Holy Ghost was concerned in it. 1. His will is the very same 
with that of the Father and the Son, 1 John v. 7. Deut. vi. 4. 
2. Though he be independent and free in his agency, he is sent 
to execute the plan of this covenant, in publishing the tidings 
or messages of it, — in forming, anointing, and supporting the 
manhood of Christ, the Representative of men, in it, — in 
erecting and governing the church, — and in the effectual ap- 
plication of the blessings purchased by Christ, to man's per- 
son and nature, 1 Pet. i. 11, 12. 2 Pet. i. 21. Luke i. 35. Isa. 
xi. 2, 3.1xi. 1. Heb. ix. 14. Acts xiii. 2 — 4. xx. 28. Johnxvi. 
7— -14. 1 Cor. vi. 11. Rom. viii. 2, 13. xv. 16, 19- Eph. i. 13, 
14, 17, 18. ii. 21, 22. Eph. v. 9. Gal. v. 22, 23, 18, 25. And 
from his concern in the making of this covenant, he hath a right 
to be Intercessor in the hearts of believers for the blessings of 
it, Rom. viii. 15, 26, 27. Gal. iv. 6. 

But this covenant of grace was, in a peculiar manner, made 
by God with his own Son, as mediator, between him and men 

1. The Scripture plainly represents God as covenanting with 
Christ, Psalm lxxxix. 3, 4, 19 — 36. all which texts have lan- 
guage too emphatic to have their full application to the covenant 
of royalty over Israel made with David, which was typical of 
that made with Christ, — Psalm xl. 6 — 8. Luke xxii. 29. Isa. 
liii. 10 — 12. Zech. vi. 13. ; which text runs in the future time, 
because the execution of this covenant is never finished. — And 
hence we read of Christ's connection with a better covenant, Heb. 
viii. 22. vii. 6. ix. 15 — and of its promises being before made 
or confirmed by God unto Christ, Gal. iii. 16, 17. Tit. i. 2. 

2. God is represented as the God, the Head, and Master, and 
the Judge, of Christ his Son, and as giving, sending, helping, 
bruising, justifying, and glorifying him, Psalm xxii. 1. xlv. 7. 
John xx. 17. Eph. i. 3. 1 Pet. i. 3- 1 Cor. xi. 3. John iii. 16. 
Rom. viii. 32, 3. 1 John iv. 9, 10. Isa. xlviii. 16. xiii. 1. 1. 
7—9. liii. 10. Heb. ii. 10. xiii. 20. 1 Pet. i. 21. Eph. i. 20—23. 
Phil. ii. 9 — 11. 3. Christ is represented as God's servant, or 
sent messenger, Isa. xiii. 1 — 7- xlix. 1 — 9. lxi. 12. John vi. 27, 



OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 229 

29. x. 36. — as a Surety, Heb. vii. 22. Psalm cxix. 22.— as 
made under the law, Gal. iv. 4, 9. Rom. viii. 3, 4. made obe- 
dient, Matt. iii. 15. Phil. ii. 7, 8. Heb. v. 8. John viii. 29. x. 
18. xiv. 31. xvii. 4. Rom. v. 19. Psalm xl. 7, 8. made sin, 
2 Cor. v. 21. Isa. liii. 6, 11, 12. 1 Pet. ii. 24. made a curse, 
Gal. iii. 13. made a sufferer for us, 1 Pet. i. 19. ii. 24. iii. 18. 
Rev. v. 9. Eph. v. 2, 23, 25, 26, 27. Matt. xx. 28. Luke xxiv. 
26. Isa. liii. 4, 5, 10. 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. Rom. iii. 24 — 26. v. 
6 — 11. and as receiving the reward of his work, Psalm ii. 8. 
xxi. 1 — 7. xxii. 27 — 31. ex. Jsa. liii. 10 — 12. xlix. 3 — 9. Luke 
xxiv. 26. John xvii. 4, 5. Phil. ii. 7—11. Heb. ii. 9, 10. 4. So- 
lemn confirmations of agreement by oaths and seals are repre- 
sented as between God and his Son. — To mark the infinite im- 
portance, infallible certainty, and the necessarv belief of that 
which he declared, God sware it to Christ, Psalm ex. 4. lxxxix. 
3, 4, 35. Heb. vii. 17, 21, 28. and Christ pledged his heart or 
soul, that he would approach an offended God as an atoning 
priest and sacrifice, Jer. xxx. 21. — God conferred and Christ 
accepted, the seals of both dispensations of the covenant of 
grace. Christ indeed did this in obedience to his Father's law* 
i— and as a solemn avowal of his fellowship with the visible 
church, and of his readiness and cheerfulness in his work, — and 
as a mean of exciting and strengthening the graces of his man- 
hood. But these seals were also confirmations of the engage- 
ment between him and his Father, relative to the redemption 
of man. — Thus, in circumcision, God signified and sealed to 
Christ, that he acknowledged him the promised seed of Abra- 
ham, in whom men should be blessed ; — that through his being 
cut off by blood-shedding and death, his mystical body should 
be preserved and admitted to fellowship with God ; — and that 
they should derive their spiritual circumcision from him, Gen. 
xxii. 18. xvii. 10 — 14. Col. ii. 11 — 13. By receiving circum- 
cision, Christ avowed himself a debtor to fulfil the whole law 
of God, Gal. v« 3. and that, to preserve us and procure our 
fellowship with God, he was ready to endure bloody sufferings 
and death, as our Head, and flesh of our flesh, Psalm xl. 6 — 8. 
John viii. 21, 23 — 30. — In baptism, God solemnly acknow- 
ledged Christ as acceptable to him in his person and office, — he 
secured his furnishing him with all the fulness of the Spirit for 
himself and his people, — and signified that in due time he should 
be delivered from, and lifted above all waters of trouble. Matt. 
iii. 15 — 17. and Christ avowed his readiness to plunge himself 
into the depths of divine wrath, in the full assurance of his Fa- 
ther's support under, and deliverance from it, Matt. iii. 15. Isa. 
i. 7, 9. Luke xii. 50. Matt. xx. 22. — In granting the passover 
to Christ, God solemnly acknowledged him his Lamb without 
spot, 2 Cor. v. 21. Heb. vii. 26. Isa. liii. 7. and that bv his 



230 OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 

death, and the application of it to men, deliverance and com- 
fort should be secured for all his spiritual seed, Isa. liii. 10 — 12. 
Heb. ix. 28. Exod. xii. Deut. xvi. Num. ix. In eating it, 
Christ avowed his immediate readiness to undergo the most 
tremendous suffering and death, for procuring his people's sal- 
vation, Psalm xl. 7, 8. John xviii. 11, Luke xxii. 15. — In 
Christ's partaking of the holy supper, God sealed to him, that by 
his death, he should be the eternal nourishment and comfort of 
his people ; that his sufferings and their virtue should be so- 
lemnly remembered and experienced among his people on earth 
till the end of time, and in heaven for ever, Isa. liii. 10 — 12. 
Psalm xlv. 17. xxii. 27 — 81. And Christ solemnly avowed his 
intention to enter immediately on his last sufferings and death, 
and signified his unition of his people into one mystical body 
with himself, Matt. xxvi. 26. 1 Cor. x. 16, 17. 

Thus the partt on heaven's side is God essentially consi- 
dered, in the person of the Father as sustaining the majesty 
and authority of the Godhead. He is to be here viewed, 1. As 
highly offended with man's sin, Psalm xiv. 2, 3. v. 4, 5, 6. 
Jer. xliv. 4. Hab. i. 13. 2. As purposing to manifest the ex- 
ceeding riches of his grace in the redemption of a part of man- 
kind, 2 Tim. i. 9. Tit. i. 2. Psalm cxxxvi. 23. Jer. xxxi. 3, 20. 
3. As infinitely just and holy, who cannot but give sin its due 
recompence, and cannot save sinners, but in a way of magnify- 
ing his law, satisfying his justice, and vindicating his holi- 
ness, Gen. xviii. 25. Deut. xxxii. 4. Psalm xi. 5 — 7. Exod. 
xxxiv. 7. Isa. v. 16. xlii. 21. Matt. v. 18. 

The Son of God is the party contractor on man's side, 1 Tim. 
ii. 5, 6. Isa. vii. 14. ix- 6. He was considered, 1 . As a person 
of infinite perfection, having in himself sufficient wisdom, 
power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth, for the marvellous 
and arduous work of our redemption, Psalm lxxxix. 19. Isa. ] 
ix. 6. Rev. i. 4. Phil. ii. 6. Zech. xiii. 7. 2. As our rightful 
proprietor, who might save us, if he pleased, and who had a 
tender regard and compassion to the works of his hands, Psalm 
c. 3. Rom. ix. 20 — 23. Isa. xliii. 21. liv. 5. 3. As Ja publick 
head and representative of all his elect of mankind, as his spi- 
ritual seed, Eph. i. 3, 4, 6, 7. 2 Tim. i. 9. Psalm lxxxix. 3, 4 f 
Isa. liii. 10, 11, 12. 

That it was made with him as a Representative of his spiritual 
seed is evident. 1. All these covenants, which were typical or 
emblematical of it, were made with parents as representatives 
of their descendants, — as the covenant of preservation from 
floods with Noah, Gen. ix. 9. the covenant of peculiar friend- 
ship and relation with Abraham, Gen. xvii. 7. the covenant of 
priesthood with Phinehas, Num. xxv. 12, 13. the covenant of 
royalty with David, 2 Sam. vii- 19 — 12. the covenant of pos- 



OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. Z31 

session of Canaan, and peculiar relation to God, with Israel, 
Exod. xix. 5. 6- xxiv. Deut. V. 2. xxix. 11, 15. 2. Christ is, 
in a peculiar manner, compared with Adam our representative 
in the covenant of works, — with respect to his connection with 
his elect members, Rom. v. 12 — 21. 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22, 45 — *9. 

3. Christ and his spiritual seed are called by the same name of 
Israel, Isa. xlix. 3. Rom. ix. 6. Gal. vi. 16. Isa. xlv. 17. xliv. 
23. Jacob, Psalm xxiv. 6. Isa. xli. 14. Christ, 1 Cor. xii. 12. 
Gal. iii. 16. ; which plainly infers, that he is their head and they 
his members, Eph. v. 30. iv. 13, 15, 16. Col. i. 18. ii. 19. 

4. The promises of this covenant respecting men were all made 
to Christ, Gal. iii. 16, 17. and before any of them existed, Tit. 
i. 2. 2 Tim. i. 9. And hence they are sometimes directed to 
another person than them, Heb. viii. 9 — 12. Nay, the first 
promise was published in a threatening directed to Satan, Gen. 
iii. 15. 5. Christ was the Surety of this covenant, Heb. vii. 
22. viii. 6. ix. 15. Psalm cxix. 122. And hence, the fulfilling 
the condition of it was exacted from him instead of the repre- 
sented covenantees, Isa. liii. 4 — 12. 2 Cor. v. 21. Eph. v. 2, 
25 — 27. Matt. xx. 28. 1 Pet. i. 19. ii. 24. iii. 18. Rev. v. 9. 

It was necessary that this covenant should be made with the 
Son of God, as our representative, 1. That the infinite love and 
mercy of God might have an early vent, even from all eternity, 
while none of those that were chosen to everlasting life had 
begun to exist, Jer. xxx. 21. xxxi. 3. Tit. i. 2. 2 Tim. i. 9. 
Prov. viii. 23 — 30. Even then Christ became their everlasting- 
Father and their Husband, to whom they were married by 
proxy, Isa. ix. 6. John xvii. 6. 2. Unless this covenant had 
been made with a divine person as our representative, it could 
not have been made at all. They, whose salvation was in- 
tended in it, could only be viewed as weak and wicked, — as 
nothing but enmity and rebellion against God, so that they 
could fulfil no conditions of life, Rom. viii. 3, 7, 8. Jer. 
xvii. 9. Psalm xiv. 1 — 4. Eph. ii. 1 — 3. Tit. iii. 3. Matt. 
xv. 19. Mark vii. 21 — 23. Meanwhile, the law had raised its 
terms to perfect obedience, and infinite satisfaction for sin, which 
none but a divine person could perform, Gal. iii. 10, 13. Rom. 
vi. 23. Ezek. xviii. 4. Heb. ix. 22. 3. It was thus made, that 
it might be to us a covenant of exceedingly rich and absolutely 
free grace, Eph. ii. 7 — 9. i. 6 — 8. Rom. iv. 4, 16. v. 20, 21. 
iii. 24. 4. That righteousness and life might be communicated 
to us, in as compendious a manner as sin and death were by 
the covenant of works, and thus the perfections of God justified 
in his entering into a covenant of life for us with Adam as our 
representative, Rom. v. 15 — 21. 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22,45 — 49. 

5. That the promises of this covenant might be sure to all the 
elect, Rom. iv. 16. — That mercy might be built up forever, 



232 OF THE COVENANT OP GRACE. 

and God's faithfulness established in the heavens, it was neces- 
sary that the representative should be a mighty one, who could 
not fail, nor be discouraged, nor be seduced by Satan, Psalm 
lxxxix. 2, 19, 22, 28, 29, 33, 36. 

The party contracted for in this covenant, were persons o 
mankind chosen by God to everlasting life. 1. Only they tha 
were chosen in Christ, are blessed in him, Eph. i. 3, 4. In their 
election he and they are considered as one body, of which he is 
the head, and they the members, Heb. ii. 11. Isa. xlii. 1, 6. 
Eph. v. 23, 30. 2. All those whom Christ represented become 
heavenly men, 1 Cor. xv. 47 — 49. Col. iii. 1—4. Eph. i. 4. 
ii. 6. 3. Those for whom he undertook are represented as his 
spiritual seed, in due time begotten again in their regeneration, 
Gal. iii. 16. Psalm lxxxix. 3, 4. xxii. 30, 31. Psalm liii. 10, 
11. James i. 18. 1 Pet. i. 2, 3. 4. Those whom he repre- 
sented are God's spiritual Israel, Rom. ix. 6. Gal. vi. 16. Heb. 
ii. 16. In this representation these persons are considered, 

I. As sinners, lost and undone in themselves, by the breach of 
the covenant of works, Hos. xiii. 9. Luke xix. 10. Matt, xviii. 

II. ix. 12, 13. Rem. v. 6, 8, 10. 2.- As altogether unable to 
help themselves, Rom. v. 6. viii. 7, 8. 2 Cor. iii. 5. John xv. 
5. Jer. xiii. 23. Eph. ii. 1. Col. ii. 13. 3. As, in the sovereign 
purpose of God, distinguished from the rest of the world, Matt. 
xx. 23. 2 Tim. ii. 19. John xvii. 6, 12. Eph. i. 4. 1 Thess. 
v. 9. 4. As objects of the redeeming love of God, Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost, John xvii. 23, 6. xiii. 18. xv. 15, is. Eph. v. 
21, 25. John iv. 9, 10, 19. iii. 1. 

It was therefore neeessary, that, in representing them, 
Christ should not only bear the general character of Mediator, 
but that, in particular, he should be, 1. Our Kinsman-Re- 
deemer, Job xix. 25. Isa. xlviii. 17. that he might marry the 
widowed human nature and the holy law, and raise up to them 
an offspring of good persons and works, Luke iii. 38. Gen. 
iii. 15. Heb. ii. 11 — 16. Matt. iii. 15. Luke xxiv. 26. Rom. 
vii. 4. Psalm xxii. 30, 31. John xii. 24. — might deliver us 
from the slavery of the broken law, of sin, Satan, and the 
world, Gal. iv. 4, 5. iii. 13. Rom. vii. 4. vi. 14. viii. 2. 1 Pet. 
i. 18, 19. Tit. ii. 14. Heb. ii. 14, 15. 2 Tim. ii. 25, 26. Isa. 
xlix. 24 — 26. Gal. i. 4. vi. 14— might buy back our mortgaged 
inheritance of eternal happiness, 1 Thess. v. 10. Eph. i. 14. 
John x. 10. Rev. v. 9.— and avenge our blood upon sin, Satan, 
and death, our murderers, John viii. 44. Heb. ii. 14. 1 Cor. 
xv. 56. Rom. v. 12. Dan. ix. 24. 1 John iii. 5,8. Hos. xiii. 14. 
Isa. xxv. 8. 2. Our Surety ; — not indeed a Surety for God 
to us, it being impossible to render his engagements by promise 
more certain, Heb. vi. 17. 18. ; — nor a Surety, merely bound to 
see our debt, to the law and justice of God paid, — or bound 



Ol' VENANT OF GRACE. 233 

together with us the principal debtors,— it being impossible for 
us to do any tiling but increase our debt, Hum. v. 6, viii. 7, 8. 
i. 28 — 3i. iii. 9 — 18. 2 Pet. ii. 14. ; — nor a Surety for our faith, 
utance, and new obedience, these, as privileges, belonging 
to the promises of the covenant, for the fulfilment of which the 
Father is engaged, Psalm xxii. 27 — 31. ; — nor can we supp 
Christ a Surety for our performance a^hese as duties, without 
admitting them into the condition of this covenant, and so 
obscuring, or rather undermining the grace of it. But he is 
our Surety, who undertook by himself alone, to pay our whole 
debt to the broken law, and offended justice of God, Gal. iv. 
4, 5. Matt. v. 17, 18. xx. 28. iii. 15. Isa. liii. 6, 10. 2 Cor. 
v. 21. Rom. iv. 25. v. 19. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. ii. 24. iii. 18. 
Luke xxiv. 26- Eph. v. 2,25. 1 Thess. v- 10. Tit. ii. 14 Rev. 
v.9. 3. Our Sacrificing Priest. Having engaged as Surety 
to satisfy the penalty of the broken law for his elect sinners, it 
became necessary that as a Priest, he should offer himself in 
sacrifice to God, for the atonement of their guilt, Heb. vii. 22, 
26- v. 1. ix. 14, 28. x. 5, 10, 14. Isa. liii. Psalm xxii. lxix. 
Eph. v. 2. 

In the making of this covenant of grace, 1. The Son of God 
was constituted the second Adam, and agreed to assume our na- 
ture, and become a true man ; and hence a substantial Mediator # 
between God and men, capable of subjecting himself to the law 
binding on us, and to pay our debt of love to God and men, — 
and of suffering for sin in that very nature which had sinned, 
Psalm xl. 6 — 8. Gen. xxviii. 12. John i. 51. ; — in the view of 
which he was constituted an official Mediator, Head, and Re- 
presentative of his elect, Isa. xlii. 1, 6. Psalm lxxxix. 19. 
1 Cor. xv. 47. 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6. Heb. viii. 6. ix. 15. 2. All the 
particular persons of mankind chosen to everlasting life were, 
in a manner becoming Jehovah, given to Christ by the Father, 
accepted by him, and enrolled in his book of life, John xvii. 
6, 9, 12. Eph. i. 4. Phil. iv. 3. Rev. iii. 5. xiii. 8. xxi. 27. 
Luke x. 20. Isa. iv. 3. S. The terms, and every thing relative 
to the salvation of these persons, were fully settled ; what 
ransom should be paid, and in what form and time ; — what 
furniture for, assistance in, and reward of his surety-service, 
Christ should have from God the Father ; — and in fine, every 
circumstance of time, manner, or degree, in which grace or 
glory should be bestowed on him, and on every one of his 
members, Isa. liii. 10 — 12. xlix. 1 — 12. Psalm xl. 6 — 8. 

•xxii. 27 — 31. exxxix. 16. ii. 6 — 9. It was agreed that in 

executing their plan of our redemption, the Father should act 
the part of a sovereign Master and Judge, with respect to the 
Son, and the persons to be saved by him, Isa. 1. 4 — 9. liii. 
13—15. xliii. 1 — 7. xlix. 1—9. Heb. ii. 10. Zech. xiii. 7. :— 

K k 



234 OF TIIE COVENANT OF GRACE. 

that the Son should act the part of a Mediator, — of an hum- 
bled and honorary servant to his Father, 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6. Isa. 
xlix. 3. lii. 13 — 15- ; liii. lxi. 1 — 3. Psalm ex. lxxii. cxix. ii. ; 
— and that the Holy Ghost should act as the publisher of the 
covenant-declaration, 2 Pet. i. 21. 1 Pet. i. 11, 12. 2 Sam. ' 
xxiii. 2. — the furnisher, assistant, and rewarder of Christ, 
Isa. xi. 2 — 4. lxi. 1 — 3* Psalm xlv. 7. ; the witness of Christ's 
and his Father's fulfilment of this covenant, — and as an effectual 
applier of the blessings of it to elect men, Heb. ii. 5. Acts ii. 
— xix. John xiv. 16, 17, 26. xv. 26. xvi. 7 — 14. 

When condition is improperly taken, and signifies no more 
than what particular duties as performed must, in the order of 
nature, precede the enjoyment of particular promised benefits, 
many things may be called conditions ; for, holiness must pre- 
cede eternal happiness, Heb. xii. 14. true repentance of sin 
must precede God's fatherly pardon of it, Prov. xxviii. 13. 
1 John i. 9. And as faith is particularly required in the publick 
dispensation of this covenant by the gospel, Acts xvi. 31. 
Mark xvi. 16. and is the appointed instrument by which God 
communicates and we receive the blessings of it, John i. 12. 
Isa. xlv. 22. Matt. xi. 28. Rom. v. 1,2. Eph. ii. 8. it is more 
frequently called the condition of it, by divines : and indeed 
• might be called a condition of connection in it. But when 
condition is taken properly for that which, when fulfilled, gives 
the covenanters full right to claim the promised reward, nothing 
but the finished righteousness of Jesus Christ, by which all the 
demands of the broken covenant of works are fully satisfied, 
can be allowed as the condition of this covenant. 1. Christ took 
upon himself the whole debt of his elect world, — all that of 
which the payment secures them from eternal death, Rom. 
vi. 23. 1 Thess. v. 10. Matt. xx. 28. 1 Pet. iii. 18. Rev. v. 9- 
and entitles them to eternal life, Matt. xix. 17. iii. 15- v. 17, 
18. Rom. v. 19, 21. — Nothing can therefore remain to be ful- 
filled by them, as the proper condition of this covenant, Dan. 
ix- 24. 2 Cor. v. 21. 2. It hath been proved, that the perfec- 
tions of God's nature required that the condition of the broken 
covenant of works should be the condition of any covenant he 
could make for the recovery of fallen men. Unless his truth 
and lnghteousness fail, the penalty must be executed, Gen. ii. 
1 7- Sin must be expiated to the full satisfaction of his infinite 
majesty and perfection, which can by no means clear the guilty, 
Exod. xxxiv. 7. Unless the holy commandment be honoured 
with perfect obedience, no man can enter into life, Gal. iii. 12. 
Matt. v. 18. xix. 17 — Nothing but the righteousness of the 
Son of God can answer to these high demands, Matt. iii. 15. 
Rom. viii. 3, 4. 3. The Scripture plainly represents Christ's 
fulfilment of all righteousness answerable to the precept and 



OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 32J 

penalty of the broken law or covenant of works, as the proper 
condition of the eternal happiness of his spiritual seed, Isa. liii. 
10, li. Luke xxii. 20. Matt, iii- 15. xx. 28. Luke xxiv. 26. 
Heb. ii. 10. Phil. ii. 8. iii. 9. 2 Cor. v. 21. Rom. iv. 25. v. 10, 
15—21. iii. 24—26. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. ii. 24. iii. 18. 2 Pet. i. 1. 
Rev. v. 9. Eph. v. 2. Tit. ii. 14. 1 Thess. v. 10. 4. Upon his 
righteousness alone believers found their plea for, and hopes of 
eternal salvation, Eph. i. 6, 7- Col. i. 14. Phil. iii. 8, 9. Rom. 
iii. 20 — 22. v. 21. Gal. ii. 16. v. 4. and Christ himself founds 
his continual intercession, John xvii- 4. 1 John ii- 1, 2. Rev. 
viii. 3, 4. 5. Only the righteousness of Christ, our Surety, 
as the condition of this covenant, can render eternal life a debt 
to the covenanter or covenantees, Rom. iv 4 — 6. and by it, our 
eternal redemption is a debt to Christ, founded on his merit, 
which is both intrinsic and pactional, he being at once the most 
high God, and the fulfiller of the condition of this covenant 
made with him, Isa. liii. 10, 11, 12. Psalm xl. 6 — 8. Acts 
xx. 28. 6. As our faith, repentance, aud new obedience can, 
by no means, answer the demands of the broken law, so, instead 
of being proper conditions of this covenant of grace, they are 
all inestimable benefits promised in it, upon the footing of its 
fulfilled condition, Phil, i 29. Psalm xxii. 27, 31. Acts v. 31. 
They suppose every person in whom they are, already within 
that covenant, — none of them being performable under the 
curse or condemning covenant of works, Gal. ii. 19. iii. 10. 
1 Cor. xv. 56. Rom. vii. 4. vi. 14. viii. 2. — Being duties per- 
formed, not under the law, as a covenant, but under it, as a 
rule of life, they can have no pactional merit, but are founded 
on union to, and fellowship with Christ, interest in his righte- 
ousness, and complete claim to eternal life, Luke i. 74, 75. 
Heb. xii. 28. — Even faith can no more properly be called the 
condition of the covenant of grace, than a child's receiving and 
wearing of his Father's wages of service, can be called the con- 
dition which entitles to such wages, and renders the master 
bound to pay them, Isa. liii. 10 — 12. Heb. ii. 10 — 16. Psalm 
xxii. 30, 31. 7. The covenant of grace excludes all boasting, 
Rom. iii. 27. v. 20, 21. Tit. iii. 3, 5. But it could not do sc, 
if our faith, repentance, and new obedience, were the proper 
conditions of it, as the weakest acting of any of these graces 
under the curse of the law and dominion of sin, would be more 
ground of boasting, than Adam's complete fulfilment of the law. 
in his state of innocence, would have been. 

As the perfections of God, required, that this condition of 
the surety righteousiiess of Jesus Christ should be stated from, 
the broken covenant of works, Matt. v. 17, 18. Rom. viii. 3,4. 
Gal. iv. 4, 5. it necessarily included, 1. The holiness of his man- 
hood absolutely perfect in parts and degrees, and retained till the 



236 OF THE COVENANT OF GEACE. 

end of his humbled life, Heb. vii.26. Luke i. 35. Man, under 
the covenant 01 works, being indispensably bound to retain 
that perfection of nature which had been given him in his crea- 
tion, duly improved and strengthened, it behoved Christ to af- 
ford it, in the room of those that are saved by him. To sup- 
pose that the law of God did not require this holiness of nature, 
is to suppose, that want of original righteousness, and hence 
even the contrary corruption of nature, is no sin : for where no 
law is, there can be no transgression, Rom. iv. 15. v. 13. Nor 
can the admitting Christ's holiness of nature into his surety 
righteousness to be imputed to us, any more render our holi- 
ness of nature unnecessary, than his obedience of life can ren- 
der our holy obedience unnecessary. Our holiness of nature is 
an important part of our happiness purchased by Christ's holi- 
ness of nature and life, Rom. v. 10, 15 — 21. 2. The holy obe- 
dience of his life carried to the highest perfection in parts and 
degrees, and continued till his death, John viii. 29. Heb. V. 8. 
Matt. iii. 15. v. 17, IS. Phil. ii. 8. Psalm xl. 8. Gal. iii. 10, 12. 
Rom. x. 4, 5. v. 19. Matt. xix. 17. Lev. xviii. 5. Deut. xxvii. 
26. Christ's retaining his holiness of nature, and his persever- 
ing in this holy obedience, was infinitely difficult, as he all 
along continued under the curse of God in our stead, Gal. iii. 
13. 1 Cor. xv. 56. 3- Full satisfaction to the penalty of the 
broken law incurred by man's sin, in voluntarily bearing the 
very same punishment which we deserved, in all the essential 
ingredients of it. — In, 1. His being subjected to legal death, or 
the curse due to us for our sin, Gal. iii. 13. Deut. xxi. 23. 
Hence God was legally wroth with him, Psalm lxxxix. 38. 
xxii 1, 2. He was consigned into the hands of his revenging 
justice, that it might demand full satisfaction from him for all 
the sias which were imputed to him, without anv pity or abate- 
ment, Zech. xiii. 7- Isa- liii. Rom. viii. 32. — and was set up as 
the butt or mark of all the arrows and billows of his Father's al- 
mighty wrath, Johnxviii.il. Psalm lxix. 1, 2, 14, 15. 2. The 
infinite execution of this curse or condemning sentence of the 
broken law, upon his soul, body, and person, in every thing 
comprehended in that temporal or spiritual death which flows 
from the curse itself, Gen. ii. 17. Gal. iii. 10, 13. Luke xxiv. 
26. Isa. 1. 6. Iii. 14. xlix. 7. liii. 2 — 12. Psalm xxii. 1 — 21. 
lxix. 1 — 21. xl. 2, 5—8. 12, 13, 17- John xii. 27." Acts xx. 28. 
Heb. ii. 10. v. 7. xiii. 12. Rev. v. 9. Eph. v. 2. 1 Pet. i. 19- 
ii. 24. iii. 18. 2 Cor. v. 21. Matt. xx. 28. xxvi, xxvii. Mark xiv. 
xv. Luke xxii. xxiii. John v. viii. x. xviii. xix.-— The reign of 
indwelling lusts, the pollution of sin, and the eternity of punish- 
ment, not proceeding from the curse of the law in itself, did 
not belong to this punishment, when inflicted on an infinitely 
holy and worthy person. His infinite power and holiness pre- 






OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 33? 

Vented all infection from sin, 2 Cor. v. 21. Isa. liii. 7. The in- 
finite dignity of his person made his temporary sufferings of 
infinite value answerable to the demands of the law, John xviii. 
11. Acts xx. 28. Rom. i. 17. v. 17, 18- 2 Cor. v. 21. And be- 
ing the only Son of God, who had come voluntarily under this 
curse for others, — it did not debar him from his Father's neces- 
sary support or occasional smiles, Isa. xlii. 1. John iii. 34. Matt, 
iii. 16, 17. xvii. 1—5. iv. 11. Luke x. 21. xxii. 43. John xii. 28. 
Being made with a person infinite, eternal, and unchange- 
able, in wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth, 
who could not fail to fulfil whatever he had undertaken, this 
covenant left no room for a penalty in case of breach, Psalm 
lxxxix. 19, 22. Isa. ix. 6. xlii. 4. Heb. vii. 25. The condition 
of this covenant being fulfilled by Christ, no proper penalty or 
punishment to their hurt can be inflicted on any of those repre- 
sented by him. The chastisements which they suffer are in- 
deed annexed to their sins, to promote their destruction, — but 
they proceed from God's redeeming love, and are purchased by 
Jesus' blood, as they are connected with, and ever beneficial to 
their persons and natures, Rom. viii. 1, 33 — 39 Psalm lxxxix. 
30—35. cxix. 67, 71. Heb.' xii. 6.— 11. Rev. iii. 19. Psalm 
xciv. 12. Prov. iii. 12. 

But the promise of this covenant is of infinite importance in 
it, and hence it is called the covenant of promise, Eph. ii. 12. 
1. To usward it is one continued promise, or cluster, or con- 
stellation of promises. Not one duty is required of us in the 
whole of its dispensation, but God in it promiseth to work it in 
us, accept it from us, and reward us for it, Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 
27, 31. Isa. Ix. 7. Rom. xv. 16. Isa. iii. 10. 1 Cor. xv. 58. — 
Nay, even Christ's fulfilment of the condition comes to us in a 
promise, Gen. iii. 15. Dan. ix. 24. 2. The condition of it was, 
and is attended with many promises to Christ. His fulfilment 
of this condition flowed from his receiving his Father's promised 
furniture and assistance, and issued in his reception of his pro- 
mised acceptance and reward, Isa. xlii. 1 — 6. 1. 4, 7, 9. Hi. 13. 
— 15. xlix. 1 — 9. liii. 10 — 12. Psalm xxii. 27 — 31. lxxii. ex. 

In their immediate application, some promises of the cove- 
nant of grace respect Christ, as the head of his elect, as their 
object, and others of them respect the elect themselves. But 
such is that oneness and relation between them, that every pro- 
mise fulfilled on him, terminates in their advantage, and every 
promise fulfilled on them, terminates in his glory and joy, Psalm 

xxii. 27. — St. Isa. liii. 10 — 12. xlii. 1 — 7. xlix. 1 — 12 

The promises, which are immediately fulfilled on Christ him- 
self, were made chiefly, if not solely, to him — Of these, the 
promises of furniture for his work, in having a holy man- 
hood formed for him, and the Holy Ghost plentifully given 



238 OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 

him being fulfilled antecedently to his performance of his 
humbled service, have their foundation in the sovereign love 
of God along with our election, Heb. x. 5. Isa. xlix. 1 — 9. xlii. 
1—6. lxi. 1. xi. 2 — 4. 1. 4, 7, 9. Psalm lxxxix. 21. Matt. iii. 16. 
John iii. 34. — But the promises of God's acceptance of his ser- 
vice, including the promise of his resurrection from the dead, 
Psalm xvi. 10. Heb. xiii. 20. ; and the promise of his justifica- 
tion in the Spirit, — in which he received an ample discharge of 
all the debt which he had engaged to pay for his people, Isa. 1. 
8. 1 Tim. iii. 16. Rom. iv. 25. Heb. ix. 28. John xvi. 10. ; — 
and the promises of God's rewarding him for it, — including a 
mediatorial interest in God as his God and portion, — heirship 
of him, and all things in and with him, Psalm lxxxix. 26, 27. 
Heb. i. ii. Rom. viii. 17. John xx. 17. Psalm xlv. 7. xvi. 11. ; — 
an exaltation to be God's prime minister, and great manager of 
all things relative to the church, Acts ii. 36. Psalm ex. 1 — 7. 
lxxii. xxi. xxii. 27 — 29. Isa. xlix. 8. Hi. 13. Dan. vii. 14. Matt, 
xxviii. 18. xi. 27. John iii. 35. v. 22. Eph. i. 22. Phil. ii. 8 — 
11. Isa. ix. 6, 7. xxxii. 1. ; — a spiritual seed, numerous as the 
stars of heaven, and blessed in him to the highest, for ever, 
Isa. liii. 10 — 12. Psalm lxxxix. 4, 29, 36. xxii. 30. lxxii. 17. 
Isa. xlv. 17. ; — and complete victory over all his and his people's 
enemies, Psalm ex. 1, 2, 5, 6. lxxxix. 23. xxii. 27, 28. xlv. 5, 
6. Mic iv. 3. ii. 13. v. 4, 5. Zech. ix. 9, 10. xii. 9. xiv. 12. 
Psalm xviii. xxi. lxxii. depend on his fulfilment of the condi- 
tion of the covenant. 

All the promises which have their immediate fulfilment on 
the elect were primarily made to Christ himself. 1. The Scrip- 
tures plainly affirm this, Gal. iii. 14, 16, 17. Psalm lxxxix. 4, 
28 — 36. 2. Christ is the great and primary heir of all things, 
divine promises not excepted, Heb. i. 2. Psalm lxxxix. 27. 
John xx. 17. Rom. viii. 17. 3. These promises were made to 
be fulfilled upon condition of his fulfilling all righteousness, 
and so contain part of the reward promised to him, Isa. liii. 
10 — 12. Psalm xxii. lxix. Heb. ii. 8, 9, 10. xii. 2. Phil. ii. 
8 — 11. 4. They were made, and the grace contained in them 
given before the world began, while not one of the elect existed, 
Tit. i. 2. 2 Tim. i. 9. It therefore follows, 1. That no con- 
ditional promises of this covenant entail any spiritual benefit 
upon any person, but such as are united to Christ, and clothed 
with his righteousness, which is the condition of it, Isa. i. 19. 
iii. 10. 1 Cor. xv. 58. Rev. xiv. 13. xxii. 14. 2. That the very 
beginnings of grace are conveyed into elect persons in promises, 
1 Pet. i. 23. James i. 18. Ezek- xi. 19. xxxvi. 26. Deut. xxx. 6. 
3. That spiritual union with Christ gives one an actual interest 
in, and begun possession of all the promises, as an heir thereof 
in Christ, 1 Cor. i. 30- 2 Cor. i. 20. 4. That we ought to 



OF THE COVENANT OP GRACE. 239 

plead the promises only in the name of Christ, John xiv. 13. 
14. xvi. 23, 24- Gen. xii. 3. xxii. 18. Psalm lxxii. 17. Eph. i. 

3. 5. That we ought never to dread the failure of any pro- 
mises. For, however much we have provoked the Lord, Christ, 
to whom they were primarily made, never gave him any pro- 
vocation to break them, but an infinite and everlasting ground 
and cause to fulfil them. 

The promises immediately respecting the elect, in general 
comprehend eternal life, that is, all true happiness in time 
and through all eternity, and all the means of it, Tit. i. 2. 
1 John ii. 25. Isa. xlv. 17. — It might be viewed, as including a 
death to the broken law, — to sin, — and to the world, Rom. vii. 

4. viii. 2. vi. 2 — 14. Col. Hi. 3, 4. ii. 20. Gal. i. 4. ii. 19, 20. 
vi. 14. — and an endless life, — from a reconciled God as its cause, 
— on him as its upholding support, — with him as a gracious 
companion, — and to him as the highest and last end of it, Psal. 
xxvii. 1. cxlii. 5. lxxiii. 24, 26. Col. Hi. 3, 4. Rom. vii. 4. 
Gal. ii. 19. 1 Cor. vi. 20. x. 31. — Or, this eternal life may be 
considered in three different periods of it ; — before the elect's 
spiritual union with Christ; — between the moment of their 
union to him and their death ; and in their eternal state. In 
the first of which periods, eternal life is on its way towards 
them, but they have neither title to, nor possession of it, in their 
own persons. In the second, they have a full title to eternal 
life, but no more than imperfect possession of it. In the third, 
they have the full possession of it, as well as title to it. 

But taking all these periods in connection, we may take up 
the promise of eternal life in the following steps or articles : 
1. The promise of security against any thing which tends to 
hinder their partaking of eternal life ; — that they shall be 
brought into natural life, Isa. liii. 10. While the curse imme- 
diately thrusts them into being, as children of fallen Adam, the 
promise made to Christ, and to them in him, secretly draws 
them into life, that they may partake of his redemption ; — that 
notwithstanding many and great dangers, their natural life 
shall be preserved till the appointed moment of their marriage 
with Christ, Matt. xxiv. 22. Ezek. xvi. 6, 8. Isa. lxv. 8. — that 
no grave -stone fixing them under spiritual death shall be laid 
upon them, in order to their passing over their day of grace, — 
or, in their committing the unpardonable sin, Mark iii. 29 ; — 
and that all they meet with, or do, during their alienation from 
God, by his infinite wisdom, power, and love, shall be managed 
into occasions or means of promoting their union to Christ, 
Ezek. xx. 36, 37. Hos. ii. 6, 7, 14. Job. xxxiii. 14 — 30. Luke 
xv. 11 — 13. Acts ix. 1 — 18. xxii. xxvi. Philem. 10 — 19. 

2 Chron. xxxiii. 11. John iv. 6 — 29. Luke xxiii. 39 — 43. 

This promise is grafted upon God's promise of preparation, 



240 OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 

furniture, and assistance to Christ, and on that of preserving 
his body from corruption in the grave, Isaiah vii. 14. xi. 2. 

Psalm xvi. 10. 2. The promise of spiritual union to Christ 

in the moment of love fixed in God's eternal purpose and cove- 
nant, Isa. liii. 10. liv. 5. Hos. ii. 19, 20. Ezek. xvi. 8. This 
comprehends the promise of the Spirit to convince, allure, ap- 
prehend, conquer, and quicken their souls, by shewing them 
the things of Christ, and working faith in their hearts to receive 
him, Isa. xliv. 3 — 5. John xvi. 7 — 14. Psalm ex. 3. xlv. 4, 5. 
Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. xxxvii. 5, 9, 14. John vi. 37, 44, 45, 65. 
Psalm xxii. 31. Rom. xv. 12. Isa. xi. 10. Phil. i. 29. Eph. ii. 
4 — 10. This promise is grafted upon that of God's uniting a 
real manhood to Christ's divine person, and of his reuniting his 
soul to his body, in his resurrection, Eph ii. 5, 6. Isa. xxvi. 
19. Hos. vi. 2. Phil. iii. 10i ii. 3. The promise of a free, full, 
irrevocable, and everlasting justification, through their union 
to Christ as the Lord their righteousness, and the imputation 
of his fulfilment of the condition of the covenant, to their per- 
son, — it being theirs, as the free gift of God offered to them in 
the gospel, and by virtue of their communion with Christ as 
their surety and husband, Isaiah xlv. 24, 25. liii. 11. xlii. 21. 
Dan. ix. 24. Rom. v. 16 — 19- i. 17. iii. 22. Phil. iii. 9. 2 Cor. 
v. 21.— This includes all the promises of full and irrevocable 
pardon of all their sins, past, present, or future, in so far as 
they are transgressions of the law as a covenant, Heb. viii. 
12. Eph. i. 7- John v. 24. Isa. liv. 9. i. 18. xliii. 25. xliv. 22. 
Jer. 1. 20. ;— *and of a full and irrevocable acceptance of their 
persons into a state of favour with God, and of a full title to a 
real eternal life, begun here in grace, and perfected hereafter 
in heavenly glory, Eph. i. 6. Rom. v. 19. 2 Cor. v. 21. Isa. 
xlv. 24, 25.— -These promises are grafted upon that of a full 
justification made to Christ, 1 Tim. iii. 16. Isa. 1. 8. Rom. iv. 

25. Johnjcvi. 10. 4. The promises of a new covenant relation 
to God as their reconciled and reconciling friend, Ezek. xxxvii. 

26. Rom. v. 10. 2 Cor. v- 19 — their adopting Father, Hos. i- 
10. Gal- iv. 4, 5. Rom. v. 1, 2. John i. 12. 1 John iii. 1. 
2 Cor. vi. 18. Jer. iii. 4, 14, 19, 22 — and as their God, — por- 
tion, — and all in all, Exod. xx. 2. Psalm 1. 7- lxxxi. 8, 10. 
Jer. xxx. 22. xxxi. 33. Ezek. xxxvii. 23, 27. xi. 20. Heb 
viii. 10. Gen. xvii. 7- Rom. viii. 17. Gal. iv. 7- — These pro- 
mises are grafted upon that of the acceptance of Christ and his 
work, and of his mediatorial interest in God, and heirship of 
all things, 2 Cor. v. 19. Eph. i- 6, 7. John xx. 17. Rom. viii. 
17. 5. The promises of sanctification of their nature and life, 
Ezek. xi. 19. xxxvi. 26, 27^ 29. Psalm ex. 3. xxii. 30. 1 Thess. 
v. 23, 24. — as proceeding from their union with Christ, 1 Cor- 
i. 2, 30. Eph. ii. 10. 2 Cor. iii. 18. v. 17. Gal. iii. 26, 27. vi. 



OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 241 

15. — from their justification by his blood, Heb. viii. 10, 12. 
xiii. 12. — and from their relation to God as their Friend, Fa- 
ther, and God, 1 Thess. v. 23. — Rom. viii. 29, 30. Gal. iv. 6. 
v. 17,24. — Ezek. xvi. 8, 2. Jer. xxxii. 38—40. As they have 
in Christ a complete treasure of wisdom and grace, ready to 
be communicated to them, Col. ii. 10. John i. 14, 16. — there 
proceeds from him as manifested to them, and from his Spirit 
dwelling in their heart by faith, a predominant measure of 
every spiritual grace, issuing in their gradual death to the 
love and practice of every sin, and in their living to righteous- 
ness, performing an obedience to God's law, perfect in all its 
parts, — tending towards perfection in degrees, and acceptable 
to God as their reconciled Father in Christ, 2 Cor. iii. 18. 
Col. ii. 10, 11. iii. 10, 11. Phil. iv. 13. Jer. xvii. 7, 8. Psalm 
xxviii. 7, 8. — These promises are grafted upon that of the sanc- 
tification of Christ's manhood in the womb, and of his being 
filled with the Holy Ghost, and upon that of his resurrection 
from the dead, Phil. iii. 10, 11. Rom. vi. 1 — 12. vii. 4. Col. ii. 
11, 12. John i. 14, 16. 6. The promises of their perseverance 
in their state of union to Christ as their husband, the Lord 
their righteousness, and their head of influences, — and in their 
covenant-relation to God in him, Jude 1. Col. iii. 3. Jer. xxxii. 
40. — and their possession and exercise of implanted grace, Job 
xvii. 9. Prov. iv. 18. — to promote which, the continued inhabi- 
tation and influences of the Holy Ghost are promised, Ezek. 
xxxvi. 27. John xiv. 16, 17. xvi. 13, 14. Isa. xxvii. 3. Hos. 
xiv. 7. Col. ii. 19. — and renewed fatherly pardons of their daily 
sins of infirmity, upon their renewed actings of faith and re- 
pentance, Jer. xxxiii. 8. John xiii. 10. Isa. xliii. 25. John i. 
7, 9. ii. 1, 2. Mic. vii. 18, 19. — These promises are grafted 
upon those of Christ's perseverance in fulfilling his surety 
righteousness, Isa. xiii. 4. Psalm lxxxix. 22. ; and of the per- 
manent security of his heavenly life, Psalm xxi. 4. John xiv. 1 9. 
Col. iii. 3, 4. 7. The promises of spiritual comfort, which 
consists in sensible assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, 
and joy in the Holy Ghost, Isa. xl. 1, 2. xliv. 23. xlix. 10. lxi, 

2. lvii. 18. — These are grafted upon that of Christ's being made 
full of joy with his Father's countenance, Psalm xvi. 11. xvii. 
15. Acts ii. 28. Rom. viii. 29. 8. The promise of temporal 
benefits, Ezek. xxxvi. 28, 29. Hos. ii. 18, 22. Isa. xxxiii. 16. 
1 Tim. iv. 8. vi. 8. Psalm xxxvii. cxii. cxxvii. cxxviii. — includ- 
ing new-covenant protection from all things really evil, Psalm 
xci. 3—13. Zech. ii 5. Psalm i. 3, 4. xli. 1 — 4. Job v. 19 — 22. 
Isa. xlix. 11. Psalm cxxi. 6. Rev. vii. 16. ; and provision of all 
good things, as proceeding through Christ from the redeeming 
love of God, Psalm xxxiv. 10. lxxxiv. 11. lxxxv. 12. xxxvii. 

3, 19. Prov. iii. 2—24. Matt. vi. 30—33. Isa. lxv. 21—23- 

L 1 



242 OF T^E "COVENANT OF GRACE. 

Rom. viii. 32. This promise is founded on that of Christ's 
heirship of all things, Psalm lxxxix. 26, 27. Heb. i. 2. 1 Cor. 
iii. 22, 23. 9. The promise of a happy death, — death disarm- 
ed of its sting, Hos. xiii. 14. Psalm- xxiii. 4. — death sanctified 
and sweetened, 1 Cor. iii. 22. PhiM. 21, 23. Luke ii. 29, 30. 
2 Cor. v. 1 — 5. — and at last destroyed in the resurrection, Isa- 
xxvi. i9. xxv. 8. 1 Cor. xv. 54- This promise is grafted upon 
Christ's safety in, and victory over death, and his resurrection 
from it, Psalm xvi. 10. John xi. 25. Isa. xxvi. 19. 1 Cor. 
xv. 10. The promise of an honourable judgment at the last 
day, Psalm 1. 1 — 6. xcvi. 13. xcviii. 9. Matt. xxv. 31 — 40. This 
is founded upon that of Christ's being prime minister of hea- 
ven, and having dominion over all, 1 Thess. iv. 15 — 17. Col. iii. 
4. 11. The promise of eternal happiness, beginning in their 
soul at death, Isa. xxxv. lO.'lvii. 2. 2 Cor. v. 1 — 7. Phil. i. 
23. Luke xxiii. 43. Rev. xiv. 13. ; and completed in both soul 
and body at the last day, Isa. Ii. 11. liii. 10. Dan. xii. 2, 3. 
John v. 28, 29. — This promise is grafted upon that of Christ's 
'exaltation and perpetual sitting at the Father's right hand, Rev. 
iii. 2 1 . Psalm xvi. 1 1 . ex. 1,5, 7. 

From the above hints of the parties, making, and parts of 
this covenant of grace, it is manifest, that it ought never to 
be splitted into two, as if one covenant of redemption had been 
made with Christ, and another of grace were made with the 
elect in their own persons. 1. The Scriptures mention none 
but two covenants relating to the eternal happiness of men, — of 
which the covenant of works, which genders to bondage, is 
one, and therefore one covenant of deliverance must be the 
other, Gal iv. 24.— which two are called the old and the new 
covenant, Heb. viii. 6—13. ; and the law and grace, Rom. xi. 
6. vi? 14. ; and the law of works and the law of faith, Rom. iii. 
27. 2. The biood of Christ is repeatedly called the blood of 
the covenant, but never — of the covenants, as if it were the con- 
dition of a covenant of redemption, and the foundation of a cove- 
nant of grace, Exod. xxiv. 3. Zech. ix. 11. Heb. ix. 20. x. 29. 
xiii. 20. This proves that our salvation depends upon none 
but one covenant ; and that Christ and his people obtain their 
eternal glory by the same covenant. 3. If that, which some 
plead for as a distinct covenant of redemption, be detached, 
there remains no proper covenant at all to be made with the 
elect ; but merely a bundle of precious promises, freely giving 
and conferring upon them the unsearchable riches of Christ : 
Nor is anv thing required as an apparent condition in one pro- 
mise, that is not absolutely promised in another, Isa. Iv. 1—3 
Acts xiii. 34 Rev. xxii. 17. Ezek. xxxvi. 25 — 31. Isa. i. 18. 
xliii. 24, 25. lvii. 17, 18. Jer. iii. 19. xxxi. 33, 34- Heb. viii. 



OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 243 

10—12. 4. There is no reason why the new covenant should 
be split into two, more than to assert that one covenant of 
works was made with Adam? and another with his seed, Rom. 
V. 12—21. 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22, 45—49- 

The end of God, — Father, — Son, — and Holy Ghost, in 
making this covenant of grace, was, 1. To display the glory of 
his own perfections, — wisdom, power, holiness, justice, and 
truth, — and especially the exceeding riches of his grace, Isa. 
xlix. 3. 2 Cor. iv. 6. Eph. i. 6 — 8. ii. 7. iii. 20, 21. Rom. v. 
20,21. 1 Pet. iv. 11. 2. To bring elect men out of an estate 
of sin and misery into an estate of salvation, Luke ii. 10 — 14. 
i. 74, 75. Hosea xiii. 9. John iii. 14— 18- Isa.lv. 2, 3, 7. xlv. 
17, 22—24, 25. 

The administration of this covenant of grace, which in- 
cludes all that is necessary to be done for making the chosen 
Representees partakers of its purchased and promised bless- 
ings,— is committed to Jesus Christ, 1 Cor. xv. 45. Isa. xlix. 
3—9. xlii. 1—7. lxi. 1—3. Iii. 13, 15. liii. 11, 12. Mic.v. 4, 5. 
Zech. ix. 9, 10. Matt. xi. 27. xxviii. 18. John iii. 35. v. 22- — 
who is to administer it for ever, Heb. i. 8. xiii. 8. Luke i. 32, 
33. Isa. ix. 7. xlv. 17- Dan. vii. 14. Hos. ii. 19, 20. Jer. xxxii. 
39-— 41. It is committed to him, 1. For the higher advance- 
ment of God's honour— that he may have no immediate deal- 
ing with sinful men, even when perfectly healed ; but his holi- 
ness, justice, mercy, and love to them, may for ever shine 
through his Son in their nature, as their Mediator, 2 Cor. iv- 
6. Job ix. 33. Psalm lxxxiv. 9. 2. To answer the case, and 
sweeten the redemption of these sinful men, the whole of their 
fellowship with God, through time and eternity, being through 
him, who is both their Brother and their God, John i. 14. 
x. 7, 9. xiv 6. Eph. ii. 18. iii. 12. Heb. iv. 14—16. x. 19—22. 
1 Pet. ii. 5. iv. IV. 3. As an honorary reward to Christ the 
Redeemer, that all his ransomed millions, and all the concerns 
of their eternal salvation, may for ever depend on him, Phil, 
ii. 7—11. Eph. i. 20—22. Isa. liii. 10—12. Iii. 13, 15. Psalm 
xxi. 5. lxxxix. 27. lxxii. 17, 19. 

The covenant of grace is, in many things, administered in- 
definitely to men in general, without any consideration of them 
either as elect or as reprobates. 1. God's grant of Christ, as 
his ordinance for salvation to men, is general and unlimited, 
John iii. 14— 17. Num. xxi. 8. 2. Christ's commission from 
his Father for administering this covenant is general and un- 
limited, Isa. lxi. 1—3. xlix. 1 — 9. Matt. xi. 27. xxxviii. 18. 
John iii. 35. xvii. 2. 3. Christ executes his commission re- 
specting sinful men, in the most general and unlimited man- 
ner, Prov. i. 22. viii. 4. ix. 4, 5. Isa. xlv. 22. Iv. 1 — 7- Matt, 
xi. 28. xxii. 4, 5. xxviii. 19. Mark vi. 15, 16. Luke xiv. 23, 



244 X>F THE COVENANT OF GRACL. 

Rev. xxii. If. 4. Though Christ effectually save none but his 
elect, Eph. v. 23, — he is by divine appointment, grant, and 
office, the Saviour of the world, fit for all sinful men, and to 
whom they are all warranted by God to apply for salvation, 
John iv. 42. 1 John iv. 14. His salvation is a common salva- 
tion, Jude 3. and his gospel is grace, which bringeth salvation 
in offer to all men that hear it, Tit. ii. 11. 1 Tim. i. 15. 5. If 
Christ's, administration of the new covenant were not thus 
general and indefinite, some men would have no more warrant 
to hear the gospel, or believe in and receive him for their sal- 
vation, than devils have, contrary to Mark xvi. 15. 16. John 
vii. 37, 38. vi. 37. Rev. xxii. 17. Prov. i. 22. viii. 4- ix. 4, 5. 
Isa. Iv. 1 — 7- xlv. 22. xlvi. 12, 13. — Nor could they be con- 
demned for cheir unbelief, according to John iii. 18. 36. Mark 
xvi. 16. Rev. xxii. 8. Prov. viii. 36. -The foundation of 
God's general grant of Christ in the gospel as his ordinance to 
men for their salvation, and of his general administration of 
the covenant, is, 1. Christ's fulfilling the condition of the co- 
venant, being infinitely valuable in itself, is, intrinsically con- 
sidered, a sufficient ransom for all men, Acts xx. 28. iii. 15. 
1 Cor. ii. 8. 2 Cor. v. 21. Phil. ii. 6 — 8. 2. Being fulfilled 
in a human nature equally related or similar to all men, it is 
equally answerable to all their needs. 3. All men, indefinitely 
considered, have in them the moral characters of those for 
whom Christ died, being unjust, ungodly, sinners, enemies to 
God, &c. 1 Pet- iii. 18. Rom. v. 6 — 10. ; and the characters 
with which the absolute promises of the covenant directly cor- 
respond, — being stout-hearted and far from righteousness,— god- 
less,— sinful,---lost, — self-destroyed,hc. Isa. xlvi. 12, 13. Heb. 
viii. 10 — 12. Luke xix. 10- Hos.xiii. 9. Jer. iii. 1, 2, 5, 14. 

The ends for which Christ administers this covenant are, 
1. The bringing of sinful men into the bonds of it, Isa. Iv. 3 — 
5. xlix 6. Matt, xxiii. 37. Luke xiv. 22, 23. 2. The right 
management of those that are instated in it, while they re- 
main in this world, 1 Pet. ii. 25. Isa. xl. 11. Ezek. xxxiv. 
xxxvii. ; in justifying them, Matt. ix. 2, 6. ; adopting them> 
John i. 12 ; sanctifying them, John xiii. 8. Acts v. 31. Eph. 
v. 26. ; caring for them, 1 Pet. v. 7. ; going with them, Ezek. 
xlvi 10. ; and governing them, Psalm ii. 6. Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 
24. xxxvii. 24. — And, as he, in his intercession, deals with 
God for them, Johnxvii. 9, 12 — 24. Heb. vii. 25. Rom. viii. 
34, — they must receive all their orders from God through him, 
Exod. xxiii. 21. Deut. xviii. 18 — 20. Matt. xvii. 5. Rev. i. 1, 3. 
Gal. vi. 2. 1 Cor. ix. 21. 3. The completing their eternal 
happiness in heaven, Eph. v. 26, 27. Jude 24. ; finishing their 
faith, Heb. xii. 2. ; carrying them safe through death, Psalm 
xxiii. 4. Rev. i. 18. : bringing them to glory, Heb. ii. 10. John 



OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 245 

xiv. 2, 3. ; and giving them their heavenly throne and crown, 
Rev. iii. 21. 2 Tim. iv 8 — —Hence, it is manifest that the 
elect only are the objects of the more special and important ad- 
ministration of this covenant ; and that it is administered to 
others only in order to promote their salvation, 1 Cor. xii. iii. 
21, 23. Eph. iv. 11 — 13. 

In the form and order of his administration of this ceve- 
nant, 1. Christ, as a trustee, receives from God all the pur- 
chased and promised blessings of it, for the behoof of his sinful 
brethren of mankind. 2. Having them all in his hand, he, as a 
testator, bequeaths them to sinful men. 3. As executor of 
his own testament, he, as their interceding Priest, instructing 
Prophet, and liberal and almighty King, confers his legacies on 
his elect. 

I. Christ, being by his Father constituted the trustee of the. 
covenant of grace, hath all the blessings of it lodged in his 
hand, Col. i. 19. John iii. 35. Matt. xi. 27. Psalm Ixviii. 18. 
This was done from eternity ; and hence Christ was ready to 
begin his administration on that very day on which Adam fell, 
Gen. iii. 5 — 15. But the solemnity of his investiture with that 
high office, was delayed till his resurrection and ascension, when 
he had fully paid the price of the benefits committed to him, 
Psalm Ixviii. 18. Matt, xxviii. 18. The blessings committed 
to his trust are, 1. The unseen guard of the covenant, or pre- 
servation of his elect in their unconverted state, Ezek. xvi. G. 
Isa. lxv. 8. 2. The uniting and quickening spirit of the cove- 
nant, Rev. iii. 1. Rom. viii. 2. John v. 25, 26. 3. The justi- 
fying righteousness of the covenant, Jer. xxiii. 6. xxxiii. 16. 
Isa. xlv. 24, 25. liv. 17. xlvi. 12, 13. lxi. 10. 1 Cor. i. 30. 2 Cor 
v. 21. 4. The covenant-relation to God as a Friend, Father, 
and God, Col. ii. 9, 10. Eph. ii. 14. 2 Cor. v. 19. Mic v. 5. 
Psalm lxxxix. 26, 27. John i. 12. xx. 17. Rom. viii. 17 
5. The sanctifying influences of the covenant, Col- i. 19, 22. 
ii. 2, 6, 7, 10 — 13, 19. John i. 14, 16. vi. 63. 1 Cor. i. 30. 
Acts v. 31. 6. The establishing grace of the covenant, Jude 1. 
John xiv. 19. Col. iii. 3. Gal. ii. 20. 2 Cor. i. 21. Col. ii. 7- 
Matt. xvi. 18- 7. The consolation of the covenant, Isa. Ii. 
7, 12. Luke ii. 25. John xvi. 33. 2 Cor. i. 5. 2 Thess. ii. 16, 

17. 8. The temporal good things of the covenant, Matt, xxviii. 

18. xi. 27. Hag. ii. 8. Psalm xxiv. 1. 1 Cor. x. 25,26. 9. All 
fulness of power over death and the grave, Rev. i. 18. Hos. 
xiii. 14. Isa. xxv. 8. 10. The everlasting and consummate 
happiness of the covenant, Isa. xlv. 17. Heb. vii. 25. John x. 

28. xvii. 2. Or, in other words, all the light, life, liberty, 

honour, &c. of the covenant are lodged in his hand, John i. 9. 
ix. 5. Luke ii. 32. 1 John i. 1. v. 11, 20. John viii. 12, 36. 



246 OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 

Rom. viii. 2. 2 Cor. iii. 17- Prov. viii. 18 — 21. Col. i. 18, 27. 
28. ii. 10, 19. 

II. Having, for the behoof of sinful men, received these 
blessings into his hand, Christ, as a dying Saviour or Testa- 
tor, bequeaths them to them in the form of a latter xuill con- 
firmed by his death, Luke xxii. 28, 29. Heb. ix. 15, 17. 
1 Cor. xi. 25. Matt. xxvi. 28. — As none of his legacies were 
needful before Adam had fallen, Christ did not till then com- 
mence a Testator, and on that very day, in paradise, he began 
to form and publish his testament ; and for about forty-one 
hundred years after, he gradually enlarged it by a more clear 
and particular bequeathment of his benefits. Both parts of his 
testament were at first delivered in words, and afterwards com- 
mitted to writing, in our Bibles, 2 Pet. i. 21. Rom. xv. 4. 
Heb. ii. 3. Luke i. 3. John xx. 31, &c. — The Old Testament, 
published before his coming in the flesh, is the declaration of 
a dying Saviour, freely bequeathing his unsearchable riches to 
sinful men, — confirmed by his typical death, in innumerable 
sacrifices and oblations, and sealed by the sacraments of Cir- 
cumcision and the Passover, Heb. ix. 20. Rom. iv. 11. 1 Cor. 
v. 7. Luke xvi. 16. The New Testament, published after his 
coming in the flesh, is his dying declaration, in which he freely 
bequeaths his unsearchable riches of grace and glory to sinful 
men, — confirmed by his personal death, and sealed by the sacra- 
ments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, 2 Cor. iii. 6. 1 Cor. 
xv. 3. Matt, xxviii. 19-1 Cor. xi. 23 — 29. — These Testaments 
are circumstantially different in their time, clearness, fulness, 
efficacy, — extent of original publication ; — and in their easiness, 
their spirituality of worship, 2 Cor. iii. 6 — 16. Heb. i. — x. Acts 
xv. 6 — 11. But they are the same in substance, exhibiting the 
same new covenant, — making over the same Saviour and salva- 
tion, Heb. xiii. 8. Acts xv. 11. Rom. iv. — conferring the same 
right to, — assurance of interest in, — and actual enjoyment of 
eternal salvation, Psalm ciii. 1 — 6. cxvi. cxvii. xviii. 1 — 3. 
xxxii. 1, 2. lxxiii. 24—26. Job xix. 25—27. Gal. ii. 20. 1 Tim. 
i. 13 — 16. 2 Tim. i. 12. iv. 7> 8. — and requiring the same duties 
of faith, repentance, love, and new obedience in the legatees. 
Psalm ii. 12. Hosea xiv. 1. Jer. iii. 1, 4, 14, 22. Psalm xcvii. 
10. xxxi. 23. Deut. xii. 32. Acts xvi. 31. 1 John iii. 23. Rev. 
ii. 5, 16. iii. 19. 1 Cor. xvi. 22. John xxi. 15 — 17. Matt, xxviii. 
20. In these Testaments, the histories and rules of beha- 
viour explain the bequeathments, and direct us to improve 

them in thankfulness to God. And to connect the duties 

of holiness with the privileges which attend them, many clauses 
run in a conditional form : but these are all reducible to absolute 
ones, in which God's making us to perform these required du- 



OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 247 

ties, is promised as a free privilege without any conditions, 
Acts xvi. 31. Rom. xv. 12, &c. &c. 

Christ's bequeathing his purchased blessings being his funda- 
mental act of administration, upon which every thing re- 
lative to the application of them depends ; — sinful men, indefi- 
nitely considered, must be his legatees, to whom in the offers 
of the gospel, he dispones them; and all of them, as they hear 
his Testament published, have full warrant, by faith, to claim 
and take into possession all his benefits thus disponed. — And 
hence, in his Testament, they are not denominated from their 
personal names, arts, callings, or places of earthly abode ;— 
but from general marks, descriptive of their disposition, state, 
and conversation before God, — as 7nen, sinful, lost, self-destroyed, 
stout-hearted and far from righteousness, polluted, wicked, rebel- 
lious, &c. Prov. viii. 4. i. 22. ix. 4, 5. Acts ii. 39. Rev. xxii. 17. 
John vi. 37. vii. 37 — 39. 1 Tim. i. 15. 2 Cor. v. 20. Matt. ix. 
12, 13. xi. 28. xviii. 11. Luke xix. 10. ii. 10, 11. Hosea xiii. 9. 
Isa. xlvi. 12, 13. lv. 1-— 7. lxv. 1, 2. i. 18. Jer. iii. 1—5, 14, 19, 
22. — All the absolute promises of the covenant being directed 
to men, as in such wretched conditions, the elect representees, 
being, by conviction, made to know their testamentary charac- 
ters, do, in agreeableness to them, claim and take into posses- 
sion the bequeathed blessings, — and multitudes of reprobates 
are rendered useful to them in their spiritual concerns, 1 Tim. 
i. 17, 19. Matt. vii. 22. Eph. iv. 11 — 18. 

The legacies, which Christ bequeaths in his testament, 
comprehend every thing necessary for the recovery and eternal 
happiness of sinful and miserable men, Rom. viii. 32. Psalm 
lxxxiv. 11. lxxxv. 12. Phil. iv. 19. Particularly, 1. Himself 
as an Husband, — an effectual Saviour, — Portion, — and a go- 
verning Head, Isa. xlii. 6. ix. 6. 2 Cor. ix- 15. John iii. 16. 
2. A complete and everlasting righteousness in him for justifi- 
cation of life, Rom. v. 17. i. 17. iii. 22. Isa. xlvi. 12, 13. liv. 17. 

lxi. 10. xlv. 24, 25. 3. A new covenant-interest in God, as 

a reconciled Friend, an affectionate Father, and an all-sufficient 
God, Isa. lvii. 19. 2 Cor. vi. 18. Hos. i. 10. Heb. viii. 10. 
4. The Holy Spirit of all grace, for the renovation of our nature 
and life, into the image of God, and for the consolation of our 
soul, Prov. i. 23. John vii. Z7, 38. Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. Zech. 
xii. 10. John xvi. 7 — 14. xiv. 16, 17, 26. xv. 26. 2 Thess. ii. 
16,* 17. 5. A proper portion of the good things of this life, 
Psalm xxxvii. 3, 16. Matt. vi. 33. 6. An unstinged and 
sweetened death, John viii. 51. Isa. xxv. 8. Hos. xiii. 14. 7. An 
eternal life in heaven, John vi. 40 — 58. x. 28. xvii. 2. 

III. Having irrevocably bequeathed his unsearchable riches to 
sinful men, Christ, though not to the exclusion of his Father. 



248 OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 

and as co-operating with his blessed Spirit, executes his own 
Testament, in effectually conferring upon the elect the blessings 
therein disponed, answerable to their need, in the character of 
an Advocate, a Prophet, and King. 

1. As, on account of their unworthiness, guilt, and ignorance, 
his legatees cannot prosecute their claim before God the Judge 
of all, Christ, as the Advocate, or interceding Priest of the cove- 
nant, manages the cause of his chosen, skilfully and boldly 
pleads on the footing of his finished righteousness in their stead, 
that his disponed blessings may be conferred upon them, in the 
appointed moments of grace, 1 John ii. 1, 2. Rom. viii. 34. 
Heb. vii. 25. ix, 24. John xvii. By this he, 1. Secures their 
effectual inbringing to a new covenant-state of union and fellow- 
ship with himself, and of interest in, of peace and favour with 
God, John xvir. 20, 21. 2. Takes actual infeftment of all the 
new covenant blessings in their name, Heb. vi. 20. Col. ii. 10. 
Eph. ii. 6. John xiv. 2, 3. 3. Maintains the new covenant- 
peace and friendship between God and them, — answering all 
accusations laid against them, and removing all real controver- 
sies which happen between God and them, Rom. viii. 33, 34. 
1 Johnii. 1, 2. Isa. liv. 9, 10. xxvii. 4. lvif. 18, 19. 4. Not- 
withstanding their remaining unworthiness, ignorance, and im- 
perfection, procures them access to God, and acceptance of all 
their services, which they perform in faith, Eph. ii. 18. i. 6. 
Rom. xii. 1. 1 Pet. ii. 5. Rev. viii. 3, 4. vii. 14. 5. Procures 
them an abundant entrance into heaven at death and at the 
last day, — and an everlasting continuance in that happy state, 
John xvii. 24. Heb. vii. 25. Psalm ex. 4. 

2. As, by reason of their ignorance and weakness, his lega- 
tees cannot, of themselves, apprehend the mysteries of his cove- 
nant, and testament, Christ reveals it to them, in the threefold 
character of a Messenger, an Interpreter, and Witness. 1. As 
the truths of his testament are good news from a far country, 
He, as the Messenger of the covenant, brings to us the glad 
tidings of our marriage with his person, and of our justification, 
adoption, sanctification, and eternal salvation through his blood, 
— and deals with us to accept these offered benefits, Mai. iii. 1. 
Isa. lxi. 1 — 3. Psalm xl. 9, 10. 2. As we are unable to con- 
ceive aright of the mysterious truths and blessings of his cove, 
nant, He, as an unparalleled Interpreter, explains to us the terms 
of his covenant, and the articles of his testament, Job xxxiii. 
23. 1 John v. 20. John vi. 45, 46,63. Heb. v. 2, Isa. xlii. 6, 7. 
xlix. 6. xlviii. 17- lx. 1. lxi. 1. Luke xxiv. 27, 45. John viii. 
12. ix. 5. Eph. v. 8, 14. 3. As we are slow of heart to believe 
the truths of God, especially those that are contrary to our 
corrupt self-love, and the dictates of a defiled conscience, Christ, 
as the. faithful and true zvitness of the covenant, attests them 



OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE, 249 

to us, Isa. lv. 4. Rev. i. 5. iii. 14. John viii. 18. xviii, 37. 
£ Cor. u 20. — declaring them to us in his word, John xx. 31. 
Rom. xv 4, 8. — confirming them by solemn asseverations and 
oaths, John iii. 3, 5. Matt. xxvi. 63, 64. Heb. vi. 17, 13. Rev. 
x. 6, 7. Isa. xlv. 23. — exemplifying them in his person and 
work, John i. 14. xiv. 6. 2 Cor. i. 20. — ratifying them in his 
sufferings and death, Heb. ix. 16. John xviii. 37. Rom. xv. 8. 
and sealing them in his sacraments, Matt, xxviii. 19. 1 Cor. 

xi. 23 — 29. Acting in these three characters, Christ, as the 

prophet of the new covenant, 1. Intimates and offers the cove- 
nant proposals to men in his word, in order to bring them to a 
personal interest in it. And in this he makes use of angels, 
prophets, apostles, pastors, teachers, parents, masters, &c. as his 
deputies or instruments, Dan. ix. 21 — 27. Luke i. 2. Matt. i. 
20, 21. Acts x. 13. 2 Cor. v. 19, 20. Heb. x. 25. xii. 25. Deut. 
vi. 7. Psalm lxxviii. 4, 5,6. Isa. xxxviii. 19. Gen. xviii. 19. 
2. By his Spirit he makes these intimations effectual for the 
illumination and conversion of his elect, 1 Pet. i. 12. 1. Thess, 
i. 5. John xv. 26. xiv. 26. xvi. 7 — 14. 3. Further, by his word 
and Spirit he instructs and directs his converted people, during 
their continuance on earth, Psalm xxv. 9, 14. xxxii. 7, 8. 
lxxiii. 24. Isa. liv. 13. xlviii. 17. 1 John ii. 20, 27. Eph. i. 13, 
17, 18. iii. 16 — 19. 4. Immediately communicates light and 
knowledge to them in their heavenly state, Psalm xvi. 11. xvii. 
15. Isa. Ix. 19, 20. Rev. xxi. 23. vii. 17. 1 John iii. 2. 1 Cor„ 
xiii. 12. 

3. As his legatees are by nature rebellious, unruly, enslaved, 
and miserable, Christ, as King of the covenant? powerfully con- 
fers his bequeathed blessings to his elect? — Having the king- 
dom of providence committed to him to be used for the bene- 
fit of his church, which is his proper kingdom, John v. 22. 
Matt. xi. 27. xxviii. 18. Prov. viii. 15, 16. Eph. i. 22, 23. Isa, 
xliii. 14. John xviii. 36. Psalm ii. 6. — He, 1. Appoints ordi- 
nances and officers, for bringing sinful men into a new-covenant 
state, and establishing them in it, Acts vii. 38. Isa. xxxiii. 22, 
Eph. iv. 11 — 13. 2. He emits royal proclamations, warranting 
and calling men to come and unite with himself by faith, and 
thus receive a full and an everlasting interest in all his benefits 
disponed, Mark xvi. 15, 16. Rom. x. 17. Matt. xi. 28. Isa.lv. 
1 — 3, 6, 7. Prov. i. 22, 23. ix. 4, 5. xxiii. 26. Rev. xxii. 17. 
iii. 20. Isa. i. 18, 19, xlvi. 12,. 13. lxv. 1, 2. Jer. iii. 1,4, 14, 
19,22. iv. 14. vi. 8. Zech. ix. 9, 12. John vii. 37 — 39. ActsiL 
38, 39. 2 Cor. v. 19, 20. 3. By his word and Spirit he effec- 
tually subdues his elect to himself, — giving them a full right to % 
and a begun possession of his blessings, Psalm ex. 3. xlv. 3 — 5. 
Rev. vi. 2. Col. i. 13. Acts xxvi. 17, 18. 4. He gathers his 
converted elect along with others into a visible church state, in 

M m 



350 OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 

which, by regulations suited to their circumstances and imper- 
fections, he governs them to his own honour and theur advan- 
tage, Gen. xlix. 10. Matt. xvi. 18. xviii. 15 — 20. xxviii. 19, 20. 
Isa. ix. 6, 7. Gen. xvii. Exod. xii. to Deut. xxxi. 1 Cor. iv. — 
xvi. Eph. iv. vi. Col. ii. — iv. 1 Thess. ii. — v. 1 Tim. i. to Tit. 
iii. Heb. i. — xiii. &c. 5. He, in a peculiar manner, governs his 
true and voluntary subjects, according to the tenour of the cove- 
nant, preserving and manifesting his own prerogatives, and 
firmly securing their privileges, Isa. xxxiii. 22. ; — in giving them 
a complete legal and filial right to all the happiness of the co- 
venant, in their justification and adoption, Matt. ix. 2, 6. Acts 
v. 31. xiii. 39. Isa. liii. 11. Jer. iii. 19.'; — in giving them the 
laws of his covenant, the moral law, as a rule of life, and writ- 
ing them by his Spirit in their heart, Heb. viii. 10. Jer. xxxi. 
33. Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. ; — in bestowing upon them, when obe- 
dient, the rewards of the covenant, not indeed for the sake or 
worth of their good works, but as rewards originally due to 
himself as their Surety, and only due to them as they are unit- 
ed with, and accepted in him, Psalm xix. 11. John xiv. 21, 22, 
23. Rev. ii. 7, 11, 17,26—28. iii. 5, 12, 21. 1 Cor. ix. 24. xv. 
58. ;— in ministering to them, when disobedient, the gracious 
discipline of the covenant, in bodily trouble, reproach, poverty, 
family or other relative afflictions,— or in desertion, tempta- 
tion, prevalence of inward corruption, disquiet of conscience, or 
the like, on their soul, — all which, in themselves and in their 
natural influence, are the deserved fruits of their sin, and con- 
tained in testamentary threatenings against it ; but as managed 
by his infinite wisdom, power, and love, for promoting their 
holiness and happiness, are mercies purchased by his death, and 
contained in promises to their persons as beloved of God in 
him, 1 Cor. xi. 30, 32. Psalm xxxviii. 4 — 8. xiii. 1 — 4- Eph- 
vi. 16. Isa. lxiii. 17. Psalm lxxxix. SO — 34. Heb. xii. 5 — 11 
Rev. iii. 19. Isa. xxvii. 9. Psalm cxix. 67, 71, 75. ; — in repeat- 
ing his intimations of his judicial pardon, and granting them 
fatherly pardons, upon their renewed acts of faith and repent- 
ance, John v. 22. Luke vii. 48. Acts v. 31. Isa. xliv. 22. xliii. 
25. :— in granting them the protection of the covenant, Psalm 
lxxxix. 18. 1 John iv. 4. Rom. vii. 24, 25. 2 Cor. xii. 7, 9. ; 
in publickly and authoritatively bestowing upon them the eter- 
jial happiness promised in the covenant,— at death, Rev. i. 8. 
xiv. 13. Acts vii. 59. ; and at the last day, Matt. xxv. 54—40, 
46. Rev. xx. 12. xxii. 12, 14. — and in his eternal government 
and glorification of them in heaven, Isa. ix. 7. Rev. vii. 17. iii. 
21. 6. He restrains and conquers his own and his people's 
enemies, and punishes them, if rational agents, Psalm lxxvi. 
10. ex. 5~7. xviii. 41 — 46. 2 Thess. i. 6 — 9. Rev.xx. 10, 15. 



OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE.] 251 

From the above hints of the making- and administration of the 
covenant of grace, it plainly appears to be, 1. Well ordered in 
all things, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. 2. Richly stored with all neces- 
sary blessings, proper for time and for eternity, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. 
Isa. lv. I, 2, 3. xxv. 6. 1 Cor. i. 30. Col. iii. 11. ii. 10. i. 19. 
Phil. iv. 19. 3. Altogether of free grace and mercy, Rom. v. 
20, 21. Psalm lxxxix. 1 — 4, 28. xl. 5. 4. Sure, that it cannot 
be broken, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Isa. lv. 3, 10. liv. 8 — 10. 5. Ever- 
lasting, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Heb. xiii. 20. Jer. x. xii. 40. Ezek 
xxxvii. 26. 6. Much different from the covenant of works, 
and preferable to it, in the party contracted with,— administra- 
tor, — natui-e, — quality, — condition, — promises,— order of our 
obedience, and God's acceptance of it,— order of execution,— 
ends, — and effects, Heb. viii. 6 — 13. Rom. v. 12 — 21. 

Notwithstanding Christ's indefinite administration of the 
covenant of grace, few men are ever actually instated in it by 
their own personal taking hold of it, Matt. xx. 16. xxii. 14. vii. 
13, 14. Luke xii. 32. xiii. 24. 1 John v. 19. Rom. ix. 27. xi. 5. 
Jer. iii. 14. — No adult persons are instated in it, but those that, 
under deep convictions of their sinfulness and misery, have fled 
to it for refuge, Rom. ix. 6. Heb. 6, 18. Psalm cxlii.4, 5. Acts 
ii. 37 — 39. ; heartily approve the whole plan of it, 2 Sam. 
xxiii. 5. Matt. xi. 5. 1 Cor. i.23, 24. Acts ix. 6. 1 Tim. i. 15. 
Isa. lv. 3. ; — gratefully love God the maker of it, 1 John iv. 19. 
v. 3. 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. Psalm lxxiii. 25, 26. iv. 6, 7. xviii. 1. 
lxxxiv. 12. xiii. 1, 2, 5, 9, 11. xliii. 4, 5. cxvi. 1. ciii. 1 — 6. ;— 
heartily submit to Christ as their head in it, Hos. i. 11. Gal. ii. 
20. Phil. iii. 7 — 9.; — cordially trust their whole salvation to the 
condition of it, 1 Cor. ii. 2. Phil. iii. 3, 9. Gal. vi. 14. Isa. xlv, 
24, 25. ; — feed with inward satisfaction on the promises of it, 
2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Psalm vii. 10. xix. 10. cxix. 72, 97, 113, 127, 
162, 167.; — and who have the sanctifying, free, ingenuous, and 
sympathizing Spirit of the covenant dwelling and working in 
them, Rom. viii. 1, 4, 9, 15, 26, 27. Gal. iv. 6. v. 16, 18. vi. 
10. Psalm lxix. 9. cxix. 136, 139. Zech. viii. 23. xii. 10. ;— and 
in fine, who approve of delight in, and conform themselves to, 
the laws of the covenant, in so far as they know them, — and 
desire to be taught that which they know not, Rom. vii. 12, 
14 — 25. Psalm cxix. 5, 6, 18, 26, 128. cxxxix. 23, 24. xliii. 3, 
4. cxliii. 10. Gal. v. 17. Matt. vi. 22. Tit. ii. 11, 12. 2 Cor. i. 
12. Phil. iii. 3. John iii. 21. Job. xxxiv. 32. 

Men are actually or personally instated in this covenant by 
their being spiritually united with Christ, their Representative 
in it, Isa. liv. 5 — 17. Ezek. xvi. 8. Hos. ii, 18 — 20. 1 Cor. i. 
30. 2 Cor. xi. 2. By this spiritual marriage-union, Christ him- 
self, in his person, offices, and relations, is made ours, Song ii. 



252 OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 

16. John xx. 28. Phil. in. 7, 8, 9. ; his fulfilling the condition 
of this covenant, ours in law-reckoning, 2 Cor. v. 21. Rom. viih 
4. v. 19. Isa. xlv. 24, 25. lxi. 10. Jer. xxiii. 6. Phil. iii. 9. ; 
and all the blessings of it ours in law-right, 1 Cor. i. 30. iii. 22. 
— Christ graciously brings us into the bond of this covenant by- 
uniting himself to us as our husband^ the Lord our righteous- 
ness, our Father, and sanctifying head, Hos. ii. 19,20. Ezek. 
xvi. 8. Isa. liv. 5, 17. xlvi. 1^, 13. lxi. 10. Jer. iii. 4, 19. xxxi. 
10, 20. 1 Cor. i. 30. Eph. ii. 10. 2 Cor. vi. 17. And we duti- 
fully enter into the bond of it by faith, Acts xvi. 31. Isa. lv. 3. 
Mark xvi. 16. John iii. 14 — 18. ; which, by receiving all the 
blessings of it freely, preserves the grace of the covenant, Rom, 
iv. 4, 5, 16. Eph. ii. 4, 9. i. 6, 7. ; and, by uniting with Christ 
the representative, preserves the unity of it, John x- 9, 10. 
Eph. iii. 17. — This faith includes a belief of the Scripture ac- 
count of this covenant or testament, upon God's own authority, 
4— and a cordial consent to it, with respect to our own salvation 
in particular, 1 Tim. i. 15. 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. — or, it is a receiv- 
ing and resting upon Christ alone for salvation, as he is of- 
fered to us in the gospel, — made of God to us, wisdom, righte- 
ousness, sanctification, and redemption, John i. 12. iii. 16, 
17. vi. 40. 1 Cor. i. 30. 

Both law and gospel having their respective stations in the 
dispensation of this covenant and testament, both must be be- 
lieved with particular personal application to ourselves. By be- 
lieving the declarations of the law, we, upon the authority of 
God impressed on our conscience, become fully persuaded of 
our own guilt, pollution, condemnation, and absolute inability 
to do any thing for our own recovery, by the covenant of 
ivorks, Rem. iii. 9 — 20, 23. Psalm li. 5. Job. xiv. 4. Gal. iii. 
10. Rom. V. 6. viii. 7, 8- Jer. xvii. 9. xiii. 23, 27. This per- 
suasion or belief is produced by the Holy Ghost, as a spirit of 
bondage, powerfully impressing on us the precepts and threaten- 
ing of that broken covenant, John xvi. 8, 9, 10. Rom. vii. 9. 
iii, 20. Gal. iii. 24. This legal faith is but forced on our soul 
against our will, and in no wise unites us to Christ ; nor is it, 
Or the legal repentance which attends it, any ground of our 
welcome to him. But, in the hand of the almighty and all- 
wise Spirit of God, it excites us to flee to him^ or rather to flee 
from all things else, Acts ii. 37. xvi. 29, 30. By it we are per- 
suaded of our absolute need of him and his benefits ; and that 
We have in ourselves those wretched and infamous characters, 
bj' which men are invited to him in the gospel, 1 Tim. i. 13, 
15. Rom. vii. 9 — 13. John iv. 29- In believing the declara- 
tions of the gospel, we. Upon God's own testimony, are cordially 
persuaded^ That Christ is an all-sufficient Saviour, able to save 
the very worst sinners of mankind, with a full and everlasting 



OF THE COVENANT OP GRACE. 253 

salvation, Eph. iii. 8. Heb. vii. 25. Isa. xxxii. 2. xlv. 22. lxiii. 
1. 1 Cor. vi. 9—11. 1 Tim. i. 13, 15, 16. Tit. iii. 3—7. ;— that 
he is cordially offered by God to sinful men as his free gift for 
their salvation, and to us in particular, Isa. lv. 1 — 4, 7. Rev. 
xxii. 17. Prov. viii. 4. ix. 4, 5. Isa. ix. 6. xlii. 6, 7. xiix. 6, 8. ; 
— that, by this divine grant of him in the gospel, he arid all the 
benefits of redemption are really ours, not in actual possession, 
but to be taken into possession, as God's free gift to us, to be 
used for all the purposes of our salvation, 1 John iv. 13, 14. 
John iii. 27. iv. 42, 10, 14. 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. xxii. 3. Luke i. 
47. viii. 12. Isa. xlvi. 12, 13. Psalm xxvii. 1- John vi. 32. iii. 
16. 1 Cor. i. 30. Isa. ix. 6. xlii. 6, 7- Rom. v- 17. 1 John v. 
10, 11. — In consequence of which persuasion follows our parti- 
cular trust in him for our own salvation, Acts xvi. 31. Voalm 
ii. 12. xxxvii. 3. Rom. xv. 12- Gal. ii. 16, 20. Acts xv. 11. 

1 Thess. ii. 13. 1 Cor. ii. 5. By this particular trust ii: Christ 

our heart really desires to be saved from sin and wrath, Rom. 
x. 10. vii. 24, 25. — renounces all confidence in itself, and every 
other creature for salvation, Phil. iii. 3. Jen xvi. 19. iii. 23. 
xvii. 5. Prov. iii. 5. Acts ii. 37. Matt. v. 3.; — cordially approves 
the new-covenant method of salvation, as infinitely well suited to 
the honour of God's perfections, and to our particular necessi- 
ties, 1 Cor. i. 23, 24. ii. 2. Matt. ix. 12. — betakes itself to Christ 
in all his offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, John vi. 35, 40, 
68, 69. Heb. vi. 18. Acts viii. 37.; — trusts our whole salvation 
to him and his righteousness, being firmly persuaded, upon the 
testimony of God himself, declared in the gospel, and applied 
by his Spirit, that He, as ours by his Father's gift, will fully 
execute upon us every saving office, fulfil every new-covenant 
relation, and accomplish every gospel-promise, John iii. 16. 
Heb. iii. 6, 14. x. 38. Isa. xxviii. 16. xxv. 9. 1. 10. xxvi. 3, 4- 
xlv. 22—25. 1 Pet. ii. 6. Rom. x. 10, 11. Psalm cxii. 7. 2 Tim- 
i. 12. Song viii. 5. 2 Chron. xiv. 11. xvi. 8- xx. 20. Heb. xi. 

13; 1 Tim. i. 15. This persuasion is produced by the Holy 

Ghost as the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, discovering him in the 
declarations and promises of the gospel, and in and by them con- 
veying him into our heart, as made of God to us wisdom, righte- 
ousness, sanctification, and redemption, — in which work, and 
through which word of the covenant, he from Christ's fulness 
conveys habitual grace into our heart, by which we are render, 
ed capable to discern, receive, and rest upon him, 1 Thess. i. 
5, 6. ii. 13. And hence, he is called the Spirit of faith, 1 Cor- 
iv. 13. 

This faith, by which we take hold of God's covenant, in- 
cludes in its very nature a real, though not always a clear, dis- 
tinct, or strong assurance, or persuasion of the truth of God's 
declarations and promises with respect to one's self, and of 



254 OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 

Christ's acting up to all his characters, offices, and relations, re- 
presented in the gospel : and in proportion to the degree of this 
assurance, is our reception of him and his fulness ; — our believ- 
ing upon God's own testimony, that he therein gives us all the 
fulness of his covenant, being our very reception of it. 1. Such 
an assurance is included in all the plain or metaphorical de- 
scriptions of faith in Scripture, as a persuasion, — .the substance 
of things hoped for, — the evidence of things not seen, — trusting, 
staying, leaning, receiving, resting, &c. Heb. xi. 1, 13. Psalm 
xxxi. 14. xviii. 2. Isa. xxvi. 3, 4. xii. 2. 1. 10. Song viii. 5. 
John i. 12. Psalm xxxvii. 3, 5, 7. Hence faith is opposed to 
doubting, fearing, wavering, staggering, instability, Matt. xiv. 
31. Mark v. 36. James i. 6, 8. John xiv. 3. Rom. iv. 20. Heb. x. 
23, 25. 2. The Scriptures strongly commends and encourages 
us to such assurance of faith, Heb. x. 22. iii. 6, 14, 18. x. 35. 
Rom. iv. 18 — 24. Mark xi. 24. 3. By directing his gospel- 
promises to us, in the manner best calculated to beget such as- 
surance, God affords us sufficient ground for it, in all our deal- 
ings with hiin and with his Christ, Acts ii. 39. iii. 26. xiii. 34. 
Rom. x. 10, 11. xi. 26. John iii. 14—17. vii. 37—39. vi. 37. 
39, 40. Jer. iii. 4, 19, 14,22. Hos. ii. 19 — 23. 1 John v. 10—12. 
Exod. xx, 2. Psalm 1. 7. Jer. xxx. 22. Zech. viii. 8- xiii. 9- 
Ezek. xxxvi. 25 — 32. 1 Tim. i. 15. Heb. vi. 16 — 18. x. 23- 

1 Thess. v. 23, 24. Tit. i. 2. Num. xxiii. 19. Doubts and 

fears are found in true believers, in proportion to the weakness 
of their faith, and not in their faith itself : and often, their 
doubts and fears do not immediately respect the faithfulness of 
God in his word, but their own past or present experience of 
his power ; and so are more properly opposite to the assurance 
of sense, than to that of faith. If our heart condemn and op- 
pose our doubting God's truth and faithfulness in his promise, 
we have a true, though not a full assurance of faith, Matt. xiv. 
29—31. Gal. v. 17. Psalm xiii. 5, 11. xliii. 5. lxxvii. 10. 

By this assured faith, we unite Vith Christ, as the Fulfiller 
of the condition of the covenant in our stead, — and, as the faith- 
ful Administrator of the covenant for our good ; — and, as guilty 
and polluted, we heartily surrender ourselves to him, as the 
almighty Saviour, — as poor and empty, to him, as our infinitely 
benevolent Friend, and all-supplying and satisfying Portion ; — 
and as perverse and unprofitable, to him, as our wise and gra- 
cious Lord, who can form us for himself to shew forth his praise, 
Isa. xliv. 5. Psalm cxix. 94. cxlii. 4, 5. cxvi. 16. Rom. v. 20, 
21. Phil. iv. 19. Isa. xliii. 21. 2 Tim. ii. 21. — This may be 
called personal covenanting with God. 

None can possibly fall from their new-covenant state : 2 Sam. 
xxiii- 5. Psalm lxxxix. 28 — 35. Isa. liv. 8 — 10. Heb. xiii. 5. 
But all that are in it, ought diligently to improve it, 1 . By a 



OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE. 253 

continued resting on Christ, and receiving out of his fulness, 
through the promises of the gospel, all necessary comfort and 
grace, 2 Chron. xx. 20. Acts xi. 23. Gal. ii. 20. Hab. ii. 4. 
2 Cor. iv. 7. 2. In a diligent attendance on, and believing 
improvement of, all the ordinances appointed by God for the 
dispensation of the covenant, 1 Cor. xi. 2, 23. Deut. iv. 2. v. 
32. xii. 32. Prov. viii. 34. Psalm lxxxiv. 1—12. Matt, xxviii. 
19, 20. 1 Cor. xi. 23 — 29. 3. In a thankful, hearty, and an 
evangelical obedience to all the laws issued forth in the admini- 
stration of the covenant, Gal. v. 6, 22, 23. Tit. ii. 11, 12. iii. 
8, 14. Deut. xii. 32. 4. In patiendy waiting, and earnestly 
preparing for the everlasting happiness of the covenant, Tit. ii. 
13. Heb. vi. 12. 2 Cor. iv. 18. 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. 1 Pet. i. 13—15. 
2 Pet. i. 4—8. Tit. ii. 11—14. 

Reflect. Now, O my soul, think what astonishing displays 
of Jehovah's perfections appear in this covenant ! — Behold how 
infinite mercy, grace, and love excite ! — how infinite wisdom 
plans ! — infinite persons mutually engage ! — how all infinite per- 
fections work for the redemption of sinful men, — of sinful me ! 
Hath God, in very deed, put to, and made with me this 
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things andsure ? — Durst I risk 
aa appearance before the judgment-seat of God,-— an entrance 
into eternity upon it, as all my salvation and all my desire ? — 
Have I, in my present review of it, looked after him that lives, 
and sees, and saves me ? — Him that loved me, and gave his Son 
for me ? — 'Him that gave himself for, and to me ? Am I pre- 
pared by God, with the saving views and heart-captivating in- 
fluences of his covenant, — to declare to others, what I have 
seen, and heard, and tasted, and handled, of the Word of life ? 
—Or, dreadful thought ! Am I to view, — to preach this ever- 
lasting covenant, — in its amazing origin, marvellous parties, 
parts, and administration ; — preach it in all its fulness and free- 
dom, and never to share the blessings of it ! — If, after repeated 
inquiries into this infinitely gracious transaction, I preach ano- 
ther gospel,— or, m any form decoy sinners to seek righteous- 
ness and salvation by the works of the law, shall I not be, for 
ever, accursed of God, and detested by angels and saints, — a 
derision of devils, and abhorred by all flesh ? 



256 OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 



BOOK IV. 

OF THE MEDIATOR OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE, IN HIS 
PERSON, OFFICES, AND STATES. 



CHAP. I. 

Of the Mediatorial Person of Christ. 

THE agency, manifold stations, and relations of the Son of 
God, in the making, fulfilment, and administration of the 
covenant of grace, plainly manifest him the Mediator of it ; 
— to which three things were necessary : 1. A mediatorial 
constitution of person, that, having the nature of both parties, 
he might be a middle person between God and men, and qua- 
lified to lay his hand on both, in order to their reconcilement, 
1 Tim. ii. 5, 6. Job ix. 33,. 2. A mediatorial office, authoriz- 
ing and qualifying him to manage for us toward God, — and 
from God toward us, every thing necessary to make up the 
breach, Prov. viii. 23. Heb. ix. 15. viii. 6. 3. A mediatorial 
state, in which his condition might correspond with that which 
was necessary for purchasing or preserving the reconciliation 
between God and us, Luke xxiv. 26. Phil. i. 7 — 11. Heb. ii. 
9, 10. 

If God had not intended to redeem a part of lost mankind, 
his Son had never become man. 1. Without this gracious 
design, God had no end worthy of such a marvellous work as 
the incarnation of his Son. 2. The Scripture always repre- 
sents the love of God to fallen men as the cause of the mission 
and incarnation of his Son, John iii. 16. Rom. v. 6 — 18. 
1 John iv. 9, 10. 3- It never mentions any other end of 
Christ's incarnation, but to glorify God in the salvation of 
men. Nor, till man had ruined himself, did the least appear- 
ance of it take place, Gen. iii. 15. Matt. i. 21. Luke i. 6T. 
ii. 34. John i. 29. Matt. ix. 12, 13. xviii. 11. xx. 28. Gal- 
iv. 4, 5. 1 Tim. i. 15. Heb. ii. 14. 1 John ii. 1, 2. iii. 5, 8- 
4. All his offices of Mediator, Redeemer, Surety, Prophet» 
Priest, and King, respect men as fallen. Such only he in. 
structs and calls to repentence, Isa. lxi. 1 — 3. Matt. ix. 13- 



OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 257 

Heb. v. 2. For such only he offers sacrifice, and intercedes 
with God, 1 Tim. ii. 5. Isa. liii. 4 — 12. 1 John ii. 12. John 
xvii. Heb. vii. 7, 25. Rom. viii. 33, 34. Such only he sub- 
dues, governs, and protects, Psalm ex. 3. Rom. viii. 2. John 

x. 27, 28. Ezek. 34, 36. The natural goodness of God no 

more required his Son to assume our nature, than it required 

him to assume the angelic. Innocent creatures would have 

had a proper head in God himself. Christ is not called the 

first begotten of every creature, because men were made after his 
image as incarnate, but because he is the only Son of God, 
begotten from all eternity, before any creature was formed; 
and because of his superiour excellence and dominion over every 

creature, Col. i. 15. But, if God intended to redeem fallen 

men it was necessary that a divine person should become man. 
1. God's justice and other perfections required, that no sinner 
should be saved, unless an infinite ransom were paid for them, 
— the law fulfilled, and sin punished in that very nature which 
had sinned, Heb. ix. 22. Acts xx. 28. Mat. xx. 28. Eph. i. 7. 
Col. i. 14, 15. Ezek. xviii. 4. 2. If any lower mean could 
have effected our redemption, God's infinite wisdom and good- 
ness could not have exposed his own Son to such debased obe- 
dience and tremendous suffering, Heb. ii. 10. Lam. iii. 33. 

It was not tf - till about the four thousandth year from the 
creation of the world, that in the fulness of time fixed in the 
purpose of God, and marked in his inspired predictions, and 
when the worla was in the most proper condition for it, that 
the Son of God came in the flesh. But preparations had all 
along been making for it. 1. The necessary occasion of it, 
through Adam's fall and his ruining all mankind, was fore- 
seen by God from all eternity, Acts xv. 18. Psalm exxxvi. 
23. 2. In the most ^astonishing and sovereign love, God pur- 
posed to recover part of nfankind from that sinful and misera- 
ble estate into which, he foresaw, they would reduce them- 
selves, 1 Thess. v. 9. 2 Thess. ii. 12, 13. Eph. i. 4. 3. The 
Son of God was set up from eternity as their Mediator, and 
multitudes of men chosen in him to everlasting life, Psalm 
lxxxix. 19, 20. Prov. viii. 23 — 30. 1 Pet. i. 20. Eph. i. 4, S. 
2 Tim. i. 9. Tit. i. 2. 4. Hereupon ensued his entrance into 
mediatorial glory suited to the then state of things, and a pe- 
culiar delight in the sons of men and in the habitable parts 
of the earth, in which he and they were to have their abode, 
and hold mutual fellowship, John xvii, 4 — 6. Prov. viii. 31. 
That delight in his future manhood, and connections with 
men, perhaps resembled, while it infinitely transcended, that 
regard which glorified souls have to their dead bodies, and 
desire of reunion with them in the resurrection. 5. It was 
indeed proper, that his coming in the flesh should be de- 

Nr.- 



258 OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON Of CHRIST. 

ferred, — -till the necessity of such a mean of reforming the 
world should be fully manifested, — ignorance and learning, 
want of ceremonies, and a multitude of them in religion, — ex- 
ternal mercies and judgments, all proving ineffectual; — till 
sufficient marks for examining His character should be leisure- 
ly pre-exhibited, — till men's longings for him should be ex- 
ceedingly awakened, and so his incarnation more honour- 
able ; — till there should be a sufficient number of hell-harden- 
ed professors of the true religion to persecute and murder 
him, — and of friends and enemies to attest his labours, death, 
and resurrection ; — and of men to experience his benevolent 
miracles, and the conquering power of his gospel. But no 
sooner had Adam sinned, and ruined himself and all his pos- 
terity, than the Son of God, as one eager to discover his mercy 
and love, intimated his purpose to become man, and suffer for 
onr redemption, Gen. iii. 8 — 15. G. His heart being exceed- 
ingly set upon his mediatorial work, he, in a multitude of pre- 
dictory promises, publickly intimated his incarnation, suffer- 
ings, resurrection, and gathering of a numerous people to him- 
self, insomuch, that not one important circumstance relative 
to his appearances, work, or success, was left unforetold, Luke 
xxiv. 25, 27, 44 — 47. John i. 45. Acts x. 43. xiii. 27. xxvi. 
22. Rom. iii. 21. 1 Pet. i. 11, 12. 1 Cor. xv^, 4. 7. Men 
being dull of hearing, and slow of heart to conceive or be- 
lieve that which was merely hinted in words, he, in a multi- 
tude of personal and real prefigurations of himsMF and his con- 
cerns, addressed the very senses of his peculiar people, Col. iu 
17. Heb x. 1. ix. 9, 10. 8. To mark his delightful intention, 
and earnest desire to assume our nature, he often appeared 
as a man, and conversed with his favourites Abraham, Isaac, 
Jacob, Joshua, the Israelites at Bochim, Gideon, Manoah and 
his wife, Daniel, Zechariah, ike. Gen. xviii. 2. xxvi. 2, 24. 
xxxii. 24. Josh. v. 13. Judges ii. 1 — 4. vi. 11 — 22. xiii. 2 — 19. 
Dan. x. 5. Zech. i. 8. And perhaps the frequent ascription of 
human members and affections to God under the Old Testa- 
ment, was intended to keep men in constant remembrance 
of the future incarnation of his Son. 9. Multitudes of the 
persons represented by him were, with his Father's consent, 
admitted to fellowship with God, not only on earth, but in 
heaven, and two of them soul and body, — not merely as first- 
fruits of his chosen people, but as an earnest of his future sit- 
ting in the midst of the throne, as the Man God's fellow, and 
the First-born among many brethren, Heb. xi. 13. Gen. v. 24. 
Heb. xi. 5. 2 Kings ii. 11. 

The Son of God hath long ago become man. 1. The 
Sceptre, Tribeship, or power of supreme government, which 
was foretold, should continue with Judah, the fourth son of 



who 



OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 259 

Jacob, and his posterity, till Shiloh should come, is now long 
ago departed, Gen. xlix. 10. Shiloh here promised can be no 
other than the Messiah ; — not Moses, who was not of the tribe 
of Judah, nor had any royal power transferred from it; — nor 
Saul, who was not anointed at Shiloh, but at Ramah, and had 
his royalty confirmed to him at Gilgal, and from whom it 
departed to David of the tribe of Judah, and his descendants, 
1 Sam. ix. — xi. xiii. xv. xvi. 2 Sam. i. — v. ; — nor Jeroboam, 
was not crowned at Shiloh, but at Shechem, 1 Kings xii. 
12- Chron- x Nor did the sceptre then, or for many ages after, 
depart from the tribe of Judah, 2 Chron. x. — xxxvii. Nor can 
Shkbet, or sceptre, here mean a rod of oppression, as it is con- 
nected with a Lawgiver, and its continuance mentioned as an 
honour and blessing to Judah. Nor is it true, that a rod of 
oppression hath alway lain on the tribe of Judah ; for under 
David, Solomon, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Hezekiah, Simon 
Maccabeus, and John Hircanus, &c. it exceedingly flourished 
in power and wealth. It must therefore mean, that pre-emi- 
nent power of government, which that tribe retained, till about 

the four thousandth year of the world. At their departure 

from Egypt it was most numerous, and in the wilderness marched 
in the front of the Hebrew nation. It was first and most ex- 
tensively settled in proper Canaan. It, by God's direction, led 
the attack upon the remaining Canaanites and rebellious Ben- 
jamites, Judges i. 1,2. xx. 18. For almost 500 years, from 
David to Zedekiah, all the Hebrew kings whom God authorized 
by peculiar covenant, were of the tribe of Judah. Even during 
their captivity in Babylon, its sovereignty was not totally ex- 
tinguished. Daniel and his companions bore rule. Jehoiachin 
was exalted above other prisoners, Dan. i. — iii. v. vi. 2 Kings 
xxv. 27- After their return from Babylon, Zerubbabel, Nehe- 
miah, the Maccabees, and the Sanhedrim, had the government 

of the nation in their hand The sceptre began to depart; 

from Judah, when Pompey the Roman general took Jerusalem, 
about sixty years before Christ's birth. It farther departed, 
when, about A. D. 10, Archelaus was dethroned, and Judea 
made a Roman province. It fully departed about A. D. 70, 
when Titus and his Roman troops utterly destroyed Jerusalem 
and its temple, and cities around. 2. Daniel's' seventy xueehs, in 
the end of which Messiah was to appear and be cut off, are long 

ago expired, Dan. ix. 24 — 27. They must be understood of 

weeks of years, a day for a year, as in several other predictions, 
Ezek. iv. 5, 6. Dan. vii. 23. xii. 12, 13. Rev. xi. 2. 3. xii. 6. 
xiii. 5. in allusion to the Jewish weeks of years, which regulated 
their Releases and Jubilees, Lev. xxv. Seventy common weeks 
are too short for such an emphatical prediction. Nor did anv im- 
portant event happen at the end of any such seventy weeks, from 



260 OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 

any remarkable commandment to restore Jerusalem. The de- 
struction of Jerusalem and its temple, and the desolation of 
Jerusalem by abominable armies, were foretold as immediately 
following these seventy weeks, Dan. ix. 23 — 27 These se- 
venty weeks, or 490 years, commencing not from any edict of 
Cyrus or Darius to rebuild the temple,bixt from one of Artaxerxes 
in the 7th or rather 20th year of his reign to rebuild the city of 
Jerusalem, Ezra i. vi. vii. Neh. ii. expired about A. D. 4036, 
\vhen Jesus Christ was crucified, not long after which, the 
Gentiles were brought into the Christian Church, Jerusalem 
and its temple ami the country about laid desolate, even unto 
this day. 3. The Jewish temple built by Zerubbabel, in which 
the Messiah was foretold to appear, and render it more glorious 
by his presence and work than Solomon's had been, notwith- 
standing it wanted several principal ornaments, Hag. ii. 6 — 9. 
Mai. iii. 1. is long ago turned into a heap of rubbish. 4. Mes- 
siah was to come while the tribe of Judah and family of David 
continued distinct, and preserved their genealogies, which hath 
not been the case for about seventeen hundred years past, Gen. 
xlix. 10. Isa. xi. 1. Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. 5. Messiah's coming in 
the flesh was to be quickly succeeded by God's admission of the 
Gentiles into his church instead of the Jews, and by the abo. 
lishment of idols, Gen. xlix. 10. Isa. liii. liv. lv. Zech. xiii. 2. 
Isa. ii. 18, 20. These events began remarkably to take place, 
more than seventeen hundred years ago. 

Jesus of Nazareth was, and is, the true Messiah. 1. All 
the characteristics of Messiah relative to his forerunner, Mai. 
iii. 1. iv. 5. Isa. xl. 3—6. Matt. iii. 3 — 14. Luke i. iii. John i. 
19 — 34. iii. 23 — 36. — his tribe and family, Gen. xlix. 10. Isa. 
xi. 1, 2. Matt. i. Luke i. 26 — 36. ii. iii. 22 — 38.— and to the 
time, Gen. xlix. 10. Dan. ix. 24. Hag. ii. 6, 7. Mai. iii. 1 — 
place, Mic. 2. Matt. ii. Luke ii. — and manner of his birth, Isa. 
vii. 14, Jer. xxxi. 22. Matt. i. 18 — 25. Luke i. 26 — 35. exactly 
agree to him. 2. The characteristics of Messiah's person, God- 
man, Isa, ix. 6. vii. 14. Luke i. 16, 17, 35. Rom. i. 4. ix. 5.— 
offices, Deut. xviii. 15 — 18. Acts iii. 22. vii. 35, 37- Matt. xi. 5. 

xvii. 5. v. — vii. xiii Psal. ex. 4. Heb. iv. 14. v. vii. ix. x. 

Matt. xxvi. xxvii. — Psal. ii. 6. lxxxix. 3, 4, 19, 20. Ezek. 
xxxiv. 23, 24. Isa. ix. 6, 7. xxxii. 1. Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. xxx. 21. 
Dan. vii. 14. John ii. 13 — 22. xviii. 36. Matt. xxi. 12. x. 
xvi. 18, 19. xxviii. 18—20. Phil. ii. 8—11. Eph. i. 22, 34. iv. 11, 
12. — and states, Psal. xxii. lxix. Isa. liii. Luke xxiv. 26. Heb. 
i. 3. ii. 8—10. 1 Cor. xv. 3, 4. Phil. ii. 7—11. 1 Pet. i. 19—21. 
exactly answer to him. 3. His doctrines and works are the 
very same which were ascribed to Messiah by the prophets, 
and are most proper for him. His doctrines, how mysterious and 



OP THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 261 

holy ! how heavenly and divine ! and how contrary to the cor- 
rupt inclinations of men ! — In what simple manner ! and by 
what unpromising instruments were they published and spread I 
and yet how powerfully effectual in converting the nations ! — 
His miracles, how numerous, publick, and benevolent ! Isa. ii. 
2, 3,4. xlviii. 17. lii. 15. liv. 13. Mic iv. 2, 3. v. 3. Mai. iii. 
2, 3. Matt. v. — x. xii. — xv. xvii — xix. Luke iv. — xix. John 
ii. — xviii. 4. For about 1740 years, the Gentiles have obe- 
diently gathered to him as his people, Psal. ii. 8. xxii. 27 — 31. 
xlv. 9. xlvii. lxviii. 22. c. cxvii. 2. lxxii. Gen. xlix. 10. Isa. 
xlii. 6, 7. xlix. 6 — 12. xi. liv. Iv. Matt. ii. John iv. xii. 20. Acts 

ii. x. — xx. Rom. xv. 16, 19. Eph. iii. 8, 9. But it must be 

observed, that the spiritual blessings of Messiah's kingdom are 
frequently foretold under carnal emblems, answerable to the 
Jewish dispensation,— as of a high house or temple, Isa. ii. 2. 
Mic. iv. 1. great peace, Isa. xi. 6, 8. Hos. ii. 18. great light, Isa. 
xxx. 26. ix. 19, 20. a glorious city and temple, Ezek. xl — xlviii. 
great happiness in Canaan, Jer. iii. xxx. xxxi — xxxiii. Ezek. 
xxxiv. xxxvi. xxxvii. 

It hath already been proved, that Jesus of Nazareth is a 
divine person, God equal with the Father — Book II. It may 
be further demonstrated to every professed Christian from the 
many absurdities which necessarily attend the denial of it. 
1. If Christ be not the Most High God, he must have been an 
introducer of blasphemy and idolatry, — in encouraging men to 
believe on, and worship himself. And even the Mahometan 
religion, which aims at the abolishment of all worship of crea- 
tures, must be much more excellent than the Christian. 2. If 
Christ be not the only true and Most High God, the Jews did 
well in crucifying him as a most infamous and blasphemous 
impostor, and persecuting his disciples, who publickly and obsti- 
nately maintained him to be the true God, and by a multitude 
of Old Testament oracles proved him to be so. 3. If he be 
not the Most High God, many leading oracles in our Bible are 
erroneous or trifling. The mystery of the gospel is altogether 
insignificant. The love of God in sending Christ to die for us 
is ol no such excellence and virtue as the Scriptures represent. 
His death is but a metaphorical atonement, unavailable to the 
redemption of our soul. 4. If Christ be not the Most High 
God, the language of Scripture is most obscure, seductive, im- 
pious, and absurd, in attributing to him the names, perfections, 
works, and worship of God, &c And either the prophets must 
have miserably misrepresented matters concerning him, or the 
apostles miserably misunderstood them, in applying them to 
prove the true divinity of Christ. 5. If Christ be not the Most 
High God, the Christian religion must be a system of mere 
superstition, appointed by a creature ; — a mere comedy, in 



262 OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 

which one falsely appears in the character of the only true 
and Most High God. All its miracles, mysteries, and predic- 
tions must be magical tricks, or diabolical delusions, calculated 
to promote faith in, and worship of, a mere creature, instead of 
the Supreme God. 

In his incarnation, the Son of God assumed a true man- 
hood, a human soul, and a true body formed of the substance 
of the Virgin Mary, — not immediately created or sent down 
from heaven. 1. God's wisdom and equity required, that the 
broken law, under which we stood, should be fulfilled in the 
very same nature that had sinned ; and that our Redeemer 
should be near of kin unto us, that the right of redemption 
might be his, even in respect of his manhood, Ezek. xviii. 4. 
Luke i. 71- Rom. vii. 4. Eph. v. 23. 2. He is exceeding fre- 
quently called a Man, and the Son of man, Psalm lxxx. 17- Dan. 
vii. 13. Zech. vi. 12. xiii. 7- Matt. viii. 20. ix. 6, &c 3. The 
Scripture represents him as the seedoi the woman, Gen. iii. 15. ; 
the seed of Abraham, Gen xii. 3. xxviii. 18. xxii. 18. ; the off- 
spring of Jesse, Isa. xi. 1. ; seed of David, and fruit of his loins,- 
Rom. ix. 5- i. 3. Luke i. 32.; the seed of Mary; made of her, 
and the fruit of her womb, Luke i. 31, 32, 35. Gal. iv. 4.— 
And without admitting this, his double genealogy must be use- 
less, false, and seductive, Mat. i. 1 — 17. Luke iii. 23 — 38. The 
scripture never calls him the Son of Joseph but on one occa- 
sion, and that because Joseph acknowledged and educated him, 
as if he had been his child, Luke ii. 41,44, iii. 23- 4. If he 
had received his body from heaven, or by any immediate crea- 
tion, he had not been like unto us in all things, sin excepted, 
Heb. ii. 17. ; or related to us, or marked with the prophetic 
characters of the lineage of Messiah, Gen. iii. 15. xxii. 18. xlix. 
10. Isa. xi. 1, 10. Jer. xxxiii. 15, 16. Isa. vii. 14. 5. The 
Scripture plainly represents him as having a true human soul, 
Isa. liii. 10. Psalm xxii. 21. Matt. xxvi. 38. John xii. 27. ; with 
a finite and limited understanding, Xuke ii. 52. Mark xiii. 32. ; 
— and a will distinct from, and subordinate to, his divine, Matt, 
xxvi. 39. ; — and a true human body, Matt. xxvi. 26. Luke xxiv- 
39. ; which partook of flesh and blood, and did eat, drink, hun- 
ger, thirst, sleep, become weary, shed tears, and sweat drops of 
blood, Heb. ii. 11, 14, 16. Matt. xi. 19- iv. 2. John xix. 28. 
iv. 6. xi. 35- Luke xix. 41. xxii. 44. 

In forming the manhood of Christ, the Holy Ghost imparted 
no substance of his own, and so is not the father of it : but, 
1. He formed part of the substance of the Virgin into his hu- 
man body. 2. He formed his human soul in the closest union 
with that body, and that in union with his divine nature. 8. He 
sanctified this manhood in its very formation, and filled his 
soul with a fulness of gifts and grace correspondent with its 



OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 263 

then condition, Isa. vii. 14. Jer. xxxi. ~2. Matt. i. 20. Luke i. 
35. — The fancy of Christ's human soul being created before the 
foundation of the world, hath no countenance from Scripture ; 
renders his manhood unlike to that of his brethren ; ana at- 
tempts to evade the proofs of his true Godhead drawn from his 
existence and acting under the Old Testament. 

The Son of God assumed this human nature into his cum di- 
vine person. The Scripture represents him as God and man in 
the same person ; — made flesh, and yet the only begotten Con of 
God, John i. 14. Gal. iv. 4. Rom. viii. 3. ; — in the form of God 
and equal to God, and yet in fashion as a man; Phil. ii. 6, 7. 
Heb. iv. 14, 15. v. 7, 8. ; — as God manifested in the flesh, 1 Tim. 
iii. 16. : — as made of the seed of David, or fathers, and yet the 
Son of God — God blessed for ever, Rom. i. 3, 4. ix. 5. ; as put to 
death in the flesh, and quickened in the Spirit, 1 Pet. iii. 18. ; — 
as God, and yet shedding his blood for our redemption, Acts 
xx. 28- ; — as man, and yet Gocfs fellow, Zech. xiii. 7. ; — as Jeho- 
vah, and yet a branch out of David's root, Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. xxxiii. 
15, 16. ; — as a child born, and yet the mighty God, Isa. ix. 6. 
Mic. v. 2. : — as Immanuel, and yet born of a woman, Isa. vii. 
14. iv. 2. Matt. i. 23, &c. &c. 

In the union of Christ's two natures in his divine person, 
two divine acts are observable : 1. A forming — uniting act, 
by which his manhood was at once formed and united to his 
person as the Son of God. This uniting of his manhood to his 
person, in the very formation of it, prevented its having any 
personality of its own, even as the uniting of our soul to our 
body in the very formation of it. prevents its having any exis- 
tence, without relation to Adam as a covenant-breaking repre- 
sentative. All the divine persons concurred in this act, the Fa- 
ther and the Son acting in, with, and through the Holy Ghost, 
Heb. x. 5. ii. 14. Isa. vii. 14. Jer. xxxi. 2-2. xxiii. 5. xxxiii. 15. 
Zech. iii. 8. Luke i. 35. 2. An assuming act, in which the Son 
only took to, or into his divine person the human nature, that 
his Godhead might dwell in it, or be, as it were, clothed with 
it forever, Heb. ii. 14. John i. 14. Phil. ii. 6. Rom. viii. 3. 
Gal. iv. 4. Perhaps it would not have become the Godhead, 
That the Father should have assumed the manhood, as, being 
the first person in order of subsistence, he could not, in corres- 
pondence therewith, have been sent by the Son and Spirit, and 
acted as a Mediator towards them : — or being the Father in the 
Godhead, he could not become a Son in manhood. — Nor, that 
the Holy Ghost should have assumed it, — as there would have 
been no divine person posterior, in order of subsistence, to have 
been sent by him to applv his purchased redemption. But it 
was infinitely condecent, that the Son should become man : that 
the middle person in the Godhead should be the Mediator be- 



264 OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 

tween God and man ; that he who was Son in the Godhead 
should be the Son of the Virgin in the manhood ; that he, who 
is the only -begotten and well-beloved Son of God, should re- 
concile us to God ; that he, who is the natural, necessary, and 
essential Son of God, should render us the adopted sons of God ; 
that he, who is the Father's Word, should declare unto us the 
Father's mind and will ; that he, who is the express image of 
his Father's person, should restore in us the image of God. 

The union of Christ's divine and human natures, or the con- 
stitution of his mediatorial person, is produced by these two acts. 
This union is a permanent relation between both natures, and 
affects the divine nature which assumed the human, as well as 
the human which was assumed. And it is, 1. Personal, not 
that two persons, a divine and human, are joined into one ; 
but that two natures, a divine and a human, are united in one 
person, who is at once true God and true man, Col. ii. 9. Isa. 
vii. 14. ix. 6. Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. xxxiii. 15, 16. Zech. xiii. 7. Mic- 
v. 2. John i. 14. iii. 13. Rom. i. 3, 4. ix. 5. Luke i. 16, 17, 35. 
Phil. ii. 6, 7. Heb. iv. 14, 15. ix. 14. Acts iii. 15. 1 Cor. ii. 8- 

1 Tim. iii. 16. 1 Pet. iii. 18. The Son of God could not 

have assumed a human person^xuhich continued to be such. As 
no finite substance can subsist in more subjects than one at the 
same time, Christ's finite manhood could not have subsisted both 
in his person, and in its own personality. If Christ had a hu- 
man person, he could not be equally related to all men. He 
could not have obeyed the law of God under the weight of its 
curse, nor have borne the infinite load of punishment due to us. 
Nor could his obedience and suffering have been of infinite va- 
lue to answer and magnify the broken law for us — He could 
not have assumed a human person, the personality of which 
ceased upon its being assumed by him. Such a notion hath no 
foundation in Scripture. A human nature formerly possessed 
by a sinner, or even a mere creature, could not decently be as- 
sumed into a personal union with the Son of God. It was not 
possible for a human person to be formed without original sin. 
— But it must be observed, that, 1. The divine personality of 
the Son of God being in itself as unchangeable as his divine na- 
ture, could neither be destroyed nor changed, Heb. xiii. 8. 
Mai iii. 6. James i. 17. Exod. iii. 14. 2. Christ's manhood hav- 
ing been united to his divine person in the very formation of it, 
could never have any personality or particular subsistence of its 
own ; nor did it need it, having by the uniting act, received a 
divine personality, instead of its own human one. Nor doth 
the want of human personality, especially when supplied to in. 
finite advantage, render his manhood less perfect, it being soul 
and body united, not its mode of subsistence, which constitutes 
a complete human nature. 3. Christ's manhood is not hnmedi- 



OF TI1E MEDIATORIAL PERSON OP CHRIST. 265 

atehj united to his divine nature, considered absolutely in itself, — 
but as it is characterized, and subsists in the person of the Son ; 
and hence is not personally united with it, as it subsists in the 
Father and Holy Ghost, Rom. viii. 3. Gal. iv. 4. John i. 14. 
4. Though, in its immensity, Christ's divine nature infinitely 
transcend his human, which can be but in one small place at 
once, yet in its spirituality, it is whole every where ; and in 
this view is united with, and dwells in his manhood, 1 Tim. iii. 
16. Isa. ix. 6. vii. 14. John i. 14. Col. ii. 4. 

2. It is an uncompounding union, both the united natures 
retaining their distinct essential properties. Hence we find as- 
cribed to Christ, 1. Infinitely different natures, Rom. i. 3, 4. 
viii. 3. ix. 5. 1 Pet. iii. 18. Heb. ix. 14. John i. 14. 1 Tim. iii. 
16. Phil. ii. 6, 7. Isa. ix. 6. vii. 14. Gal. iv. 4. 2- Different itn* 
derstandings and -wills, — knowing all things, John ii. 25. xxi. 17. ; 
and yet not knowing the time of the last judgment, Mark xii. 
32. ; — having one will with the Father, John v. 19. x. 30. xiv. 
9, 10. 1 John v. 7. ; and yet having a will different from the 
Father's, Luke xxii. 42. 3. Contrary circumstances or proper- 
ties, as to leave the world, in respect of his manhood, John xvi. 
7, 28. ; and yet to be ahvay in it, in respect of his Godhead, 
Matt, xxviii. 20. xviii. 20. : to be a child born, and yet the ever- 
lasting Father, Isa. ix- G. ; Almighty God, and yet crucified 
through xveakness, Gen. xvii. 1. Isa. ix. 6. 2 Cor. xiii. 4. 

3. It is an indissoluble and everlasting union. 1. If 
Christ had intended to lay aside his manhood, he had probably 
done so when he had finished his humbled service, in which it was 
peculiarly necessary. But it is certain that he retained it in his 
resurrection and ascension, and will retain it in the last judg- 
ment, Acts i. 10 — 12. iii. 20, 21. Rev. i. 7. 2. Christ lives for 
evermore in respect of that nature which was once dead, Rev. 
i. 18. Psalm xxi. 4. 3. The everlasting continuance of his me- 
diatorial office requires his perpetual retention of his manhood 
— that, as the Lamb, he may be the everlasting light of heaven, 
Rev. xxi. 23. ; — that, as a priest for ever, he may make conti- 
nual intercession for us, Psalm ex. 4. Heb. vii. 25. Rom. viii. 
34. : — and that, as a king, he may for ever sit on the throne of 
his father David, Luke i. 32, 33. Isa. Ix. 7. 4. All believers 
shall have their bodies, as his members, fashioned like unto his 
glorious body, and be for ever with him, Phil. iii. 21. 1 Thes's. 
iv. 17. His own manhood cannot then be supposed to lose its 
existence or high station. 5. The everlasting union of his man- 
hood to his divine person is necessary, — in equity to itself, that 
it may receive the due reward of that debased obedience, which 
it performed, and suffering which it underwent in its united 
state ; — and in kindness to us, that it may continue an everlast- 
ing monument of God's love to us, and a mean of our familiar 
knowledge, love, and fellowship with him. 

O o 



266 OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 

No real communication of divine properties, omnipresence^ 
omniscience, omnipotence, or the like, ensues to the human na- 
ture from this union. 1. Christ's divine nature being absolutely 
simple, all its essential properties must be communicated by 
this personal union to his manhood, or none of them at all. 
But how absurd would it be to maintain, that his manhood 
hath an unsuccessive eternity, is self-existent, absolutely inde- 
pendent, or a supreme God. 2. No distinguishing properties 
of any nature can be communicated, as, if they be rendered 
common to two or more natures, they are no more distinguish- 
ing. 3. As Christ's divine nature is united to his human as 
really and closely as the human is to it, the properties of his 
divine nature can-be no more communicable, by virtue of this 
union, to his human, than the finity, dependence, weakness, 
&c. of the human nature can be to the divine. 4. Each of the 
natures being incapable of the properties of the other, there 
can be no communication of them without compounding the 
natures and forming one out of both, as Eutychians absurdly 
supposed. 5. The divine properties, particularly mentioned 
cannot be communicated. Omnipresence plainly contradicts 
the very nature of a body : that which is omnipresent could 
never have been conceived, or born, died, or been buried, — have 
risen from the grave, ascended to heaven, or return to judgment, 
— nor could have moved from place to place, as it is certain 
Christ did, or will do, Luke ii. 1 — 7. Matt. xxvi. — xxviii. 
John xx. xxi. vi. 24- xi. 15. xvi. 28. xvii. 11. Mark vi. 6. xvi. 
19. Lukexxiv. 51. Actsi. 9 — 11. in. 21. Heb.iv. 14. 1 Thess. 
iv. 14, 17. — It could not be omniscient, for it increased in wis- 
dom, Luke ii. 40, 52. ; and when on earth knew not the time of 
the last judgment, Mark xiii. 32 — It was not almighty, but was 
weary, amazed, and very heavy, — troubled till it knew not 
what to say, and needed his Father's help, John iv. 6. Matt. 
xxvi. 38. John xii. 27. Heb. v. 7. Isa. 1. 7, 9. xlii. 1. Nor 
can it, but God alone, quicken the dead, Rom. iv. 17. 1 Pet. 
iii. 18. John vi. 63. Psalm xxxvi. 9. Acts xxvi. 8. 

But the trite effects of this personal union of Christ's two na- 
tures are, 1. Communion of mutual interest in each other, John 
xii. 27. Psalm xvi. 10. 2. Conjunct anointing, which, as it re- 
spects his divine nature, includes the sending him and the pre- 
paring a human nature for the personal residence of his god- 
head, Gal. iv. 4. Isa. xlviii. 16. ; and as it respects his manhood, 
denotes the actual bestowal of all necessary gifts and graces 
upon it. And as these endowments were different in degree, 
in different periods, while the union was the same, they appear 
to have proceeded, not immediately from his divine nature, but 
from the Holy Ghost dwelling in his manhood, and qualifying it 
according to its growing capacity, and different states of humi- 



OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 267 

liation or exaltation, Luke ii. 52. Mark xiii. 32. 3. Commu- 
nion in all mediatorial qualities, offices, and acts, — that notwith* 
standing a particular nature be the immediate agent or sufferer, 
* — the person God-man is reputed to have acted or suffered 
these things : He is reputed to obey the law, satisfy God's jus- 
tice, rise from the dead, return to judge the world, Matt. v. 17. 
2 Cor. v. 21. Rom. i. 3, 4. 1 Thess. iv. 14, 16. 4. The pro- 
perties of both natures are ascribed to his person, God-man,— 
and even the properties or pertinents of the one nature are 
ascribed to him, when he is named from the other.-- Thus we 
say, the blood of God, and that the Son of God was born, died, 
rose again ; that the Lord of glory was crucified, Acts xx. 28. 
Rom. viii. 3. 1 Cor. ii. 8. ; and that the man Christ is God's 
equal, knows all things, is every where, and almighty, Zech. 
xiii. 7. John xxi. 17. ill. 13. Isa. ix. 6. — For, though these 
things do not agree to the whole of Christ, or both his natures, 
— they agree to his whole person, God-man. 

This close union of Christ's tivo natures in one person, was 
necessary, that the works of both natures might be accepted by 
God for us, and relied on by us, as the work of his whole per- 
son, God-man. None but a God-man, who was at once our 
Creator and our near Kinsman, could have a full right to re- 
deem us. None but Tie could pay the price of our redemption, 

or put us into the actual possession of it. More particularly, 

it was necessary that he, who was to be Mediator between an 
offended God and offending men, should partake of the natures 
of both, — that being nearly related to both, he might be care- 
ful for the interest of both, and qualified to do every thing pro- 
per for bringing both to an amicable and everlasting reconcile- 
ment. It was necessary to his being our Redeemer, that he 

might have full property in us and relation to us, — might be 
able to pay a suitable and all-sufficient ransom for us, — and 
might have proper sympathy with us, sufficient dignity and 
power to purchase and apply our redemption. It was neces- 
sary to his being our Surety and sacrificing Priest, — that, as 
God, he might lawfully undertake for us, being absolute lord of 
his own person, obedience, and life ; — might fully secure the 
payment of all that we owed to God's law and justice ; — might 
do the world no injury by his voluntary death ; — might willingly 
do all that law and justice required of him in our stead ; — 
might add infinite value to his obedience and suffering ; — might 
know every particular person for whom he satisfied, and every 
circumstance relating to each of them ; — and might, by his own 

power, conquer death, and rise from its prison : and that, 

as man, the broken law, under which we stood, might, in all its 
demands of obedience, love to God and to men, — and of suffer- 
ings, take fast hold of him, and be exactly fulfilled by him, in 



268 Of THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 

the very substance • and kind in which we owed them; — and 
that, in paying our debt, he might contract an experimental 
feeling of our infirmities, and set before us a perfect pattern of 
holy obedience and patient suffering, . It was necessary to 
his being our Advocate or interceding Priest, — that, as God, he 
might remove himself from his debased state of atonement to 
that of his honorary intercession ; — might, with proper dignity 
and confidence, appear in the presence of God for us ; — might 
for ever sit with him on his throne, as the all-sufficient pledge 
of our everlasting peace and friendship with him, and take in- 
feftment of the heavenly inheritance in our name ; — might 
know all the necessities and inward desires of his people ; — and 
might, in his intercession for them, counterbalance ali their 
unworthiness, guilt, and want of earnestness in prayer, with his 
own dignity of person, fulness of merit, and efficacy of desire : 
—and that, as man, he might present our nature before God, 
as a complete fulfiiler of all righteousness, — and might inter- 
cede for us as our compassionate brother, who feels our infir- 
mities. This conjunction of the divine and human natures 

in the person of Christ, is also necessary to his execution of his 
prophetical office,— that, as God, he might be equally present 
with all his disciples, in every age, Matt, xxvii). 20. ; — might 
have a comprehensive view of all divine truths, and of our need 
of instruction, Johni. 18. Col. ii. 3. — might give full and com- 
fortable evidence of the holiness, infallibility, and divine autho- 
rity of his instructions. Matt, xvi i. 5.; — might confirm them by 
miracles wrought by his own power, John v. 36. x. 38. ; — might 
employ the Holy Ghost to concur with him in his teaching, 
John xvi. 7 — 14. Prov. i. 23. ; and render it effectual for the 
conviction, illumination, regeneration, sanctification, and com- 
fort of his people, 2 Cor. iv. 6. iii. 18- : — and that, as man, he 
might instruct us with brotherly affection, and in a manner 
adapted to our weakness ; and might exemplify his doctrines 
and injunctions in his own person, life, and death, Matt. vi. 29, 
30. — It was necessary to his execution of his kingly office, — 
that, being God, his subjects might not be reduced lower in 
their redeemed, than they had been in their created state, Hos. 
i. 10, 11. ; and that he might be equally near to, and capable to 
subdue, rule, and defend all his people in every place and pe- 
riod, Psalm cv. 2, 3. Ixxii. 8, 9. xxviii. 9. xxix. 11. Zech. ix. 
10. Isa. ix 7. ; — might be able to withstand all the power and 
policy of hell and earth, Matt. xvi. 18. ; — might be head over all 
things to his church. Eph. i- 22. ; — might be able to convince, 
conquer, renew, comfort, sanctify and govern the hearts of all 
his elect, and to supply all their wants, Isalm xlv. 3 — 5. John 
xiv. 1. xv. 3 — 5. vi. 63. Phil. iv. 19.; — and able to manage the 
unruly hearts of all his implacable enemies, devils or men, Prov 



OP THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 2GU 

xxi. 1. Psalm lxxvi. 10. Rev. xvii. 17.; and to call them to 
account lor their conduct, Acts xvi. 31. Rev. xx. 12. : — and be- 
ing man, he might not exalt his heart above his brethren suDJcct-« 
ed to him, but maintain a tender and condescending regard to 
them, Zech. ii. 8. ; — and might, by his own example, enforce 
obedience to that law which he enacts, and by which he will, 
in a visible manner, fix the eternal state of angels and men at 
the last day. It is necessary to his implementing all his sav- 
ing relations of Father, Husband, Friend, Shepherd, &c. — 
While his manhood renders them near, delightful, and as it 
were natural towards men, his godhead renders thtm infinitely 
efficacious and comfortable, Song v. 9 — 16. Psalm xxiii. 1 — 6. 
xviii. 1 — 3. Isa. ix. 6. ixiii. 16. liv. 5. — It is necessary to his 
States of humiliation and exaltation. While his manhood ^:id 
or doth render them possible, real,' and adequately exemplary 
to us, — his godhead rendered his humiliation infinitely deep, 
marvellously dignified, and the work of it truly and intrinsically 
meritorious, — and renders his exaltation inconceivablj high, 
makes him capable to support and rightly to manage his un- 
paralleled glory, and makes it infinitely comfortable and rffica- 
cious to usward, 2 Cor. viii. 9. v. 21. FJeb. ii. 17, 18. iv. 14 — 16. 
vi. 18— 30.x. 19—22. 

The grace and relative glory of this mediatorial person of 
Christ are exceedingly remarkable. His personal grace com- 
prehends, 1. The grace of union, by which his manhood is 
graciously exalted to its high state of subsistence in the per- 
son of the Son of God, John i. 14. 1 Tim. iii. 16. Rom. viii. 
3. litb. ii. 11, 14. 2. The grace of unction, which lies in 
God's appointment of him to his mediatorial work, — and in 
his abundant furnishing of his human nature with gifts and 
graces for it, John x. 36. vi. 27, 29. iii. 34. Isa. xi. 2 — 4. lxi. 
1. xlii. 1. 3. The grace of fellowship, which consists in those 
happy fruits which proceed from the union of his natures, 
and his unction by the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. i. 30. Col. i. 19. 
ii. 3, 10, 19. Or, his personal grace consists in, 1. His fit- 
ness for his work, as God in our nature appointed to it, Col. 
ii. 9. John iii. 16. 1 Tim. iii. 16. John i. 14. 2. His fulness 
of grace lodged in him, sufficient for the supply of all his peo- 
ple, Col. i. 19. ii. 10. Phil. iv. 19. 3. His excellency to en- 
dear, — he, in his person, offices, relations, and work, being 
every way suited to the understanding, conscience, desires, or 
necessities of our immortal souls, Song v. 10 — 16. Col. ii. 10. 
iii. 11. 1 Cor. i. 30. 

The relative glory of the person of Christ, God-roan, lies in 
its manifold connections with the nature, perfections, purpo- 
ses, covenants, and revealed truths of God : — and with be- 
lievers' familiar fellowship with God, — and all their saving 



270 OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 

graces, and exercise of them, — and all their acceptable worship 
of God, and new obedience to him- 

I. In respect of his nature, 1. God is one with, or the 
same as Christ, — in his divine nature, John x. 30. 1 John v. 
7. ; in perfection, dignity, work, and worship, John v. 16 — 29. 
xvii. 9, 10. xiv. 9, 10. ; in will, Psalm xl. 8, j in affection, John 
xiv. 21,23. 2 Thess. ii. 16.; in interest and dominion, John 
Xvii. 2, 9, 10. xvi. 15. xiv. 2,9, 10. 2. God is with Christ, 
co-operating in the same work, John v. 17, 19. xiv. 23. 2 Thess. 
ii. 16. Prov. viii. 27 — 30. ; — in upholding and assisting his man- 
hood, Acts x. 38. Isa. xlii. 1, 6. xlix. 2. 1. 7, 9. ; — in exercis- 
ing love and favour tewards him, John xvii. 24. Matt. iii. 17. 
xvii. 5. ; — >and in sharing the same honours, Rev. iii. 21. xxii. 
1. 3. God is in Christ, — in mysterious co-existence of per- 
son, John xiv. 10, 11, 20. xvii. 21, 23. ; — in marvellous rest, 
satisfaction, and delight, Isa. xlii. 21. 2 Cor. v. 19. Psalm 
lxxx. 17. In him alone he is to be found by sinful and self- 
ruined men, Isa. lxvi. 1, 2. 2 Cor. v. 19 — 21. Eph. ii. 18. iii. 
12. — In him all things respecting God delightfully harmo- 
nize, — as perfections of mercy, justice, and wrath, the exer- 
cise of which seems inconsistent : — Names apparently irrecon- 
cileable, — as merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, trans- 
gression, and sin, — and yet by no means clearing' the guilty, 
Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. : — Words apparently contradictory, repre- 
senting God's detesting the justification of the wicked, — and 
yet representing his own justification of the ungodly, Exod. 
xxiii. 7- Prov. xvii. 15. Rom. iv. 6. Isa. xliii. 24, 25. xiv. 24, 
25. 2 Cor. v. 21. ; — and works apparently contrary, as mak- 
ing men dead to the law, and yet writing the law in their 
hearts, Gal. ii. 19. Rom. vii. 4> viii. 2. Jer. xxxi. 33. Heb. 
viii. 10. 4. God is manifested in and through Christ. 
All the words and works of God cannot give a full, clear, effi- 
cacious, saving, and satisfying view of God suitable to sinful 
men. But Christ being of the same substance with him, and 
yet a distinct person in our nature, is infinitely fit to repre- 
sent him to us. As Son of God, he is the brightness of his 
Father's glory, and the express image of his person, Heb. i. 3. 
John xiv- 9, 10. As God-man mediator, he is the represent- 
ative image of the invisible God, Col. i. 15. 2 Cor. iv. 4. 6. ; — in 
and through which, the perfections of God shine forth with 
the most unsullied, amiable, heart-captivating and soul trans- 
forming brightness. 1. His spirituality, in framing a cove- 
nant, kingdom, and people, not of this world, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. 
John xviii. 36. 1 Pet. ii. 5. 2. His infinity, in devising and 
executing an infinitely important plan of our redemption, and 
in cheerfully giving his infinite Son, an unspeakable gift, to be 



OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 271 

a ransom for us, and then to be an husband, effectual Saviour, 
and everlasting portion to us, 2 Cor. ix. 15. John iii. 16. 
3. His eternity, in establishing a covenant with him, and an 
office in him, which reacheth from everlasting to everlasting, 
2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Prov. viii. 23. Psalm ex. 4. Isa. ix 7. 4. 
His immutability, in all his infallible purposes and providences, 
relative to Christ, in nothing altering his appearance or work, 
notwithstanding our innumerable provocations, — and in the 
everlasting union of our nature to his person, as a fixed pledge 
of our acceptance and happiness, Mai. iii. 6. Jer. iii. 5, 19. 
xxiii. 5, 6. xxxi. 3. xxxii. 40. Isa. liv. 8 — 10. 5- His inde- 
pendence, in personally uniting his own Son to manhood, and 
in that new form, rendering him dependent on himself as his 
created man and mediatorial servant, Jer. xxxi. 22. Isa. vii. 
14. xlii. 1. Jer. xxiii. 5. xxxiii. 15. 6. His absolute sove- 
reignty, in giving his only begotten Son to be Mediator and 
Surety for hell-deserving sinners ; and for men, not for fallen 
angels ; — and for some men, not for others as good and valuable 
in themselves, and no less necessitous, Psalm lxxxix. 19, 20. 
Heb. ix. 14, 16. I Cor. i. 26. Matt. xi. 25, 26. xx. 15. 7. His 
subsistence in three persons, — plainly marked in Christ's mis- 
sion, Isa. xlviii. 16. ; his unction, Isa. lxi. 1. ; his baptism, Matt, 
iii. 16, 17. ; his death, Heb. ix. 14. ; his resurrection, Rom. viii. 
11. i. 3, 4. ; his intercession, John xiv. 16, 17,?26. ; and his ap- 
plication of his purchased redemption to us, John xv. 26. xvi. 
7 — 15. 1 Pet. i. 2. 8. His divine life, in bestowing such ful- 
ness of spiritual and eternal life on Christ, for the quicken- 
ing, the comfort and everlasting happiness and glory of men 
dead in trespasses and sins, John v. 25. xi. 25. Rom. viii. 2. 
Eph. ii. 1 — 10. 9. His infinite zvisdom and knowledge, in find- 
ing a proper person for the infinitely arduous work of our re- 
demption, in bringing him into the world in the most pro- 
per time, place, and manner, and endowed with the most 
proper furniture ; and through him bringing the greatest glory 
to God, and good to men, out of the worst of evils ; in pu- 
nishing sin, and saving sinners ; in making Satan's complete- 
like victory the occasion of his complicated ruin ; and in ren- 
dering Christ wisdom to the most foolish and ignorant. 10. 
His infinite power, in uniting Christ's natures in one person, 
and our persons to him ; in inflicting most tremendous pu- 
nishments upon him, and supporting him under them, and 
even making his manhood flourish in holiness under the press- 
ure of an infinite wrath and curse. In rendering him an over- 
comer by sufferings and death ; in raising him from the dead, 
and bestowing upon him a super-exceeding and eternal weight 
of glory, — and in justifying, preserving, comforting, and glo- 
rifying his people, through him, 1 Cor. i. 24. 11. His infi- 



272 OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 

nite holiness, in the inconceivable purity of Christ's human na- 
ture, even under the curse, Luke i. 35. ; in hiding himself from 
him on account of sin not inherent in him or committed by 
him, hut merely imputed to him, Matt, xxvii- 46. ; and in his 
slaying him, his beloved Son, in order that he might destroy 
sin, Dan. ix. 24. 1. John iii. 5, 8. 12. His infinite justice, in 
his relentless execution of all the vengeance due to our sins, 
upon his only -begotten and well-beloved Son, and in reward- 
ing his most guilty representees with everlasting grace and 
glory, on his account, Rom. viii. 32. iii. 24 — 26. Isa. liii. 10, 
11. 1 John iv. 9, 10, 19- i. 9. Rom. v. 21. vi. 23. 13. His 
infallible truth, in fulfilling the most important and difficult- 
like promises and threatenings, in the constitution of his per- 
son, and in his work of satisfying for and saving men, 2 Cor. 
i. 20. Gen. iii. 15. ii. 17. 1 Thess. v. 18. 1 Pet. iii. 18. 14. 
His infinite majesty, greatness, and authority, in sending, com- 
manding, punishing, and rewarding his own infinite equal, in 
our nature, Isa. xlii. 6. xlviii. 16. Matt. iii. 15. John x. 18.. 
xiv. 31. Phil. ii. 6—11. Zech. xiii. 7. Isa. lvii. 10 — 12. Eph. i. 
20 — 23. 15. And chiefly his infinite grace, mercy, goodness, 
and love, John iii. 16. 1 John i. 8, 9, 10, 16, 19. 

II. God's purposes, and the execution thereof in his works, 
are deeply connected with Christ. His person, God-man, is, 

1. The foundation of them, Col. i. 17. 2. The centre, in 
which they all delightfully meet, Eph. i. 10. 3. The glory 
of them, the union of his two natures being the principal con- 
trivance and work of God, Jer. xxxi. 22. 1 Tim. iii. 16. 

4. The grand mean of accomplishing the purposes and effect- 
ing the great works of God, Heb. xi. 3. i. 2, 3. Isa. xlix. 8. 

5. The grand scope and end of them, in connection with the 
glory of God and the salvation of men, Rev. v. 11 — 13. 

6. The great attractive of God's heart to his purposes and 
works, that makes him rest and rejoice in them with inexpres- 
sible pleasure and delight, Psalm civ. 31. Zeph. iii. 17. 

III. With respect to the revealed truths of God, Christ in ' 
his person and offices is, 1. The fountain, whence they proceed 
to us, Johni. 18. Rev. i. 1. 2 Sum. xxiii. 3. Matt. v. — vii. John 
iii, 3,5. Rom. i. 16. 2. The. foundation of them, John xiv. 6. 
Isa. xxviii. 16. 1 Cor. iii. 11. 3. The matter of them, when 
taken in their full connection, 1 Tim. iii. 16. 1 Cor. i. 24. ii. 

2. 6, 7. Col. i. 25—27. iii. 11. John xiv. 6. 4. Their reposi- 
tory, in which they are safely, honourably, and mysteriously 
laid up, John i. 14. Col. ii. 3. Isa. xi. 2. lxi. 1. Eph. iv. 20, 21. 
2 Cor. i. 20. 5. Their centre, in which all their lines orderly 
meet, Acts x. 43. Rom. x. 4. iii. 21, 22. 1 Cor. i. 20. Luke xsii. 



OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 273 

20. xxiv. 27,45. John i. 45. Acts xxvi. 22, 23. 1 Cor. xv. 1, 3, 
4. 1 Tim. iii. 16. 6. The great Teacher and Interpreter of 
them, Mai. iii. 1- Isa. xlviii. 17. 1.4. liv. 13. Job xxxiii. 23. 
Rom. xv. 8. Songii. 9 — 15. 1 John v. 20. Luke xxiv. 27, 45. 
Mic. iv. 2. v. 4. 7. The witness and even the attestation of 
them, Rev. i. 5. iii. 14. Isa. Iv. 4. John iii. 3, 5. Psalm 1. 7. 
Ezek. xxxiii. 11. Heb. vi. 16—18. 2 Cor. i. 20. 8. The exem- 
plification of them in all their leading articles relative to God or 
men, — sin or miserv, — holiness or happiness, — law or gospel, 
Eph. iv. 20, 21. 9. 'The light and glory of them, Gal. i. 16. 
2 Cor. iii. 8, 14, 16, 18. iv. 3, 4, 6. 10. The life, power, and 
efficacy of them. All the perfections, purposes, and agency of 
God for rendering them effectual, are in him. And, known 
separately from him, they are undervalued, deserted, perverted, 
dead, and ineffectual, — nay, a savour of death unto death, — a 
killing letter, — the ministration of death, 2 Cor. ii. 16. iii. 6,7.; 
but connected with him they are quick and powerful, Heb. iv. 
12. Rom. iv. 17. John v. 25. vi. S3, xi. 25. Rom. viii. 2. Psalm 
cxix. 50. 11. The application of them to men's hearts depends 
upon his application of his person. No truth can be rightly 
perceived, till he be spiritually discerned. No truth can be re- 
ceived in the love of it, till he be embraced. We can have no 
comfortable interest in divine truths, till we be interested in 
him. No saving virtue of truth can be felt, till we experience 
his self-uniting touch, Rom. vii. 9. viii. 2. But, in his entrance 
into our soul, divine truths are applied, never more to be taken 
from us, Isa. liv. 13. Gal. i. 16. 2 Tim. iii- 15. 2 Cor. i. 24. 
Eph. v. 8. iv. 24. 2 Cor. iii. 3, 18. Eph. i. 18, 19. iii. 16 — 19. 
Jer. xxxi. 32 — 34. Psalm cxix. 11. Jer. xv- 16. 

IV. Nor are the covenants of God less connected with Christ 
God-man. These particular ones which God made with Noah, 
Abraham, Phinehas, David, Israel, were framed to represent 
that which he made with Christ and his people in him, Gen. ix. 
xvii. xxii. Num. xxv. 2 Sam. vii. Exod. xix. 5, 6. xxiv. Deut. 
v. 2. xxix. — Christ in his person and work was the real, though 
at first unseen end of God's making the covenant of works with 
Adam, and the full vindication of his making it with a repre- 
sentative, Rom. v. 12—21. 2 Cor. xv. 21, 22, 45 — 49. He is 
the fulfiller and magnifier of it in the room of his elect, Rom. 
x. 4. viii. 3, 4. Isa. xlii. 1, 21. liii. 4, 5, 6, 10. And he thus 
renders it harmless, useful, and pleasant to fallen men, Rom. 
viii. 1 — 4. vii. 5. Gal. ii. 19—21. iii. 24. — Christ is the con- 
tractor, Mediator, Surety, Sacrificing Priest, Condition-ful- 
filler, Administrator, Trustee, Testator, Executor, Advocate, 
Prophet, and King, in, or of, the covenant of grace, Isa. xlii. 
6. xlix. 6. Psalm lxxxix. 3. Heb. ix. 15. vii. 22. x. 10, 14. 



274 OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 

Rom. v. 16 — 21. John xvii. 2. Psalm lxviii. 18. Heb. ix. 16. 
Isa. lv. 4. xlix. 8, 9. 1 John ii. 1 . Acts iii. 22. Psalm ii. 6. All 
the blessings of it are in, and only obtained in union with his 
person j as election, Eph. i. 3, 4. the Spirit, Rom. viii. 2. Tit. 
iii. 6. justification, Isa. xlv. 24, 25. new covenant interest in 
God, 2 Cor. v. 19- Gal. iii. 20. John xx. 17. Rom. viii. 17. 
regeneration, and sanctification, Eph. ii. 10. 2 Cor. v. 17. Gal. 
vi. 15. 1 Cor. i. 30 vi. 11. spiritual comfort, John xvi. 33. Luke 
ii. 25. .perseverance in grace, Jude 1. Gal. ii. 20. Col. iii. 3. 
a happy death, Rev. xiv. 13. 1 Thess. iv. 14, 16. and eternal 
glory, Isa. xlv. 17. Ix. 19. — He is the cause, substance, and end 
of all these benefits. Election is but a separation from others 
to eternal life, in Christ as our root, with him as our companion 
and head, — through him as the mean, and on him as our nour- 
ishment, Eph. i. 4. Redemption is Christ and all his righteous- 
ness and purchased fulness received by us for our deliverance 
and happiness, Eph. i. 3, 8. Col. i. 14. Rev. v. 9. — Justification 
is Christ accounted to us by God, that through his holiness, 
obedience, and suffering, we may be freed from condemnation, 
accepted into favour, and entitled to eternal life, Isa. xlv. 24,25. 
2 Cor. v 21. Rom. v. 15 — 21. Adoption is a being instated 
together with, and in Christ, and in his right, into the family 
of God, as heirs of every thing happy or honourable, John i. 
12. Rom. viii. 17,29. Regeneration and sanctification are his 
purchased image, produced in us by his manifesting himself to 
us, entering into, and dwelling in us by his Spirit, Gal. i. 16. 
2 Cor. iii. 18. Eph. iii. 17 — 19. iv. 12 — 16. Col. ii. 6, 7, 19. 
Gal. ii. 20. Consolation is the delightful apprehensions and 
tastes of Christ and his fulness secured through, and in him, to 
our soul, 2 Cor. ii. 14. Gal. vi. 14. Phil. iii. 3. iv. 4. Psalm 
cxlix. 2. Luke i. 47. Christ as the infinite price of our eternal 
life, and as our unceasing Intercessor, and as living in, and 
caring for us, makes us to persevere in grace, Rom. v. 21. John 
xiv. 19. Col. iii. 3. Eternal life is purchased by Christ's death, 
procured by his intercession, prepared by his grace, pledged by 
the enjoyment of him on earth, and consists in nearness to, 
heart attracting and assimilating views of his glory, and enjoy- 
ment of him as God-man, and of God in him, Rev- v. 9. Hos. 
xiii. 14. Heb. vi. 20. vii. 25. John xiv< 2, 3, 6. xvii. 21, 24. 
x. 7, 9. 2 Cor. iii. 18. Phil. iv. 19. Psalm xvii. 15. xvi. 11. 
lxxiii. 24, 26. Isa. xxxv. 10. Ix. 19, 20. — The dispensation of 
this covenant in word and ordinances, and by the Holy Ghost, 
is the institution of Christ, in which he himself is exhibited and 
applied to men, 2 Cor. i. 20. 1 Cor. i. 23, 24. ii. 2. Rom.x. 4. 
i. 16, 17- viii. 2. — Christ God-man is the Founder, the Foun- 
dation, the Apostle, Head, Governour, and Proprietor of the 
new-covenant society, the church; and the Spiritual Father, 



OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 2Ta 

Husband, and life of all her true members, Matt. xvi. 18. 
Heb. iii. 1. Eph. ii. 19, 20. iv. 11, 12. Isa. ix- 6. liv. 2. Gal. ii. 
20. Col. iii- 1, 3,4. 

V. All the fellowship of believers with God is in and through 
the person of Christ God-man. Through him we have fellow- 
ship with the Father in his love, as the mean and centre of it. 
Through him the Father vents his preventing, free, infinite, 
distinguishing and everlasting love to us. And through him 
we believe it, and return it, in consequential, grateful, superla- 
tive, and fruitful love to him. And through him our faith and 
love are acceptable to, and accepted by the Father, 1 John iv. 
8—10, 16, 19. 1 Cor. xv. 58. Heb. vi. 10. xii. 28. Our fel- 
lowship with the Son, in his giving himself to us, and our 
choosing and accepting him for our Husband, Saviour, and 
Lord ; — in his exercise of esteem, delight, compassion, and 
bounty towards'us, — and our exercise of esteem, delight, chaste 
affection, and cheerful obedience towards him ; — and our fellow- 
ship with him in his righteousness as the price of our salvation, 
in his intercession as the procuring cause, — and in their blessed 
effects, of justification, adoption, liberty and boldness toward 
God, — chastisement for sin, — sanctification, spiritual comfort, 
— and right to everlasting happiness, depends on our union to, 
and beholding and enjoying his person God-man. Our fellow- 
ship with the Holy Ghost depends on it. He as the Spirit of 
Christ, sent by and lodged in him, works in his ordinances, 
enlightens, excites, and opens our hearts, manifests and conveys 
Christ and his fulness into it ; — dwells in us, and sheds abroad 
the love of God in our hearts, witnesses with our spirits, seals us 
up to the day of redemption, and by his sanctifying and com- 
forting influence is the earnest of our eternal inheritance ; — in 
all which work, he leadeth us to the person of Christ, as made 
of God to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemp- 
tion. And it is from Christ living in us, and regarded by us, that 
we carefully avoid grieving, vexing, resisting, and quenching 
the Holy Ghost, and comply with, and cherish his influences, 
and esteem, expect, and prepare for his benefits and comforts, 
John xvi. 7 — 15. Rom. viii. Eph. iv. 20 — 30. Gal., v. 18—26. 

VI. The gracious qualities of believers, and exercise thereof, 
are connected with Christ's person. His righteousness as the 
righteousness of God-man, purchased their new nature in all its 
diversified graces, Tit. ii. 14. Heb. xiii. 12. ix. 12,14. x. 10, 
14. All the grace implanted in their heart is originally in him, 
and through him conveyed to them, John i. 14, 16. Col. i. 19. 
ii. 3, 19. iii. 11. His uniting of himself to them as their justi- 
fied and quickening Head, is the foundation aud cause of the 



276 OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 

renovation of their nature after the image of God, Gal. iv. 19. 
vi. 15. Eph. ii. 10. 2 Cor. v. 17. 1 Cor. iv. 15. The actuating 
their inward graces proceeds from his dwelling in their heart 
by faith as the resurrection and the life, Eph. Hi. 1 7. Gal. ii. 20. 
Col. ii. 19. Eph. iv. 16. All these graces have him, in some 
respect for their object, Johnxvii. 3. Heb. xii. 2. Zech. xii. 10. 

1 Cor. xvi. 22. And only in, and through him are they and 
their acts accepted by God, Eph. i. 6. Rom. xii. 1. 1 Pet. ii. 5. . 

2 Cor. v. 9, 19. More particularly, 1. All true spiritual knowledge 
hath him for its fountain, mean, and summary object, 1 Cor. ii. 2. 
Phil. iii. 8. All saving knowledge of God is obtained only through 
him. Some divine perfections, as pardoning mercy, &o appear 
only in him, 2 Cor. v. 19. ; other divine perfections, as wisdom, 
power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth, cannot be clearly 
and comfortably perceived, as manifested, and to be for ever ma- 
nifested in promoting our happiness, who are sinful men, but in 

him, 2 Cor. v. 19. Gen- xv. 1. Heb. vii. 25. Phil. iv. 19. All 

saving knowledge of sin is to be had only in and through his 
person. In him we perceive God's end in permitting sin to 
enter and abound in the world, Rom. v- 20, 21. In his extra- 
ordinary conception, we perceive the conveyance of sinful cor- 
ruption from Adam to his posterity, Luke i. 35. Psalm li. 5. 

Job xiv. 4. John iii. 6. In his mediatorial mission and 

quickening virtue, we perceive our utter inability to recover 
ourselves, or perform any thing spiritually good, Rom. viii. 2, 
3. vii. 8. v. 6 — 8. Mic vi. 6 — 8. In his death we perceive the 
dreadful nature, due desert, and necessary punishment of sin, 
and the true method of destroying it, by a believing application 
of his death and resurrection, Rom. vi. 3, 4, 14. vii. 4. All 
saving knowledge of righteousness is had in and through him. 
In viewing his person God-man, made under the law, and 
fulfilling his surety-engagements, we perceive the righteousness 
demanded by God's law from us ; and that it cannot be abated, 
Gal. iv. 4, 5. Rom. viii. 3, 4. Mat. iii. 15. Luke xxiv. 26. Heb. 
ii. 9, 10. v. 8- 2 Cor. v. 21. ; and that in him alone is a law- 
magnifying righteousness for us, Isa. xlv. 24, 25. xlvi. 12, 13. 
liii. 4. 5, 11. liv. 17. lxi. 10. xlii. 21. Jer. xxiii. 6. xxxiii. 16. — ■ 
All saving knoxvledge of judgment is only in and through him. 
In his death we have an awful proof of its certainty, justness, 
and tremendous nature : In it we perceive the safety of his 
friends, and the inevitable destruction of his implacable enemies. 
In his victory over Satan, we foresee the eternal ruin of his 

followers and interests. If Christ be revealed in us, we know 

all that is necessary, all that is worthy to be known, in order 
to our eternal salvation, Gal. i. 16. 1 Cor. ii. 2. Mat. xi. 25. 
John xvii. 3. 1 John v. 20. Luke xxiv. 45. Phil. iii. 8- 1 Thess. 
iv. 9. Jer. xxxi. 33. We are directed to choose the best por- 



OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 277 

tion, Lam. iii. 24. Psalm xxvii. 4. cxlii. 4, 5. xci. 2- cxix. 57. 
and the best way, Psalm cxix. 30. Col. ii. 6. Phil. iii. 8, 9. ; and 
to prosecute our choice in the best manner, Eph. vi. 10. 2 Tim. 
ii. I. Phil. iv. 8, 13. Zech. x. 12. Mic iv. 5. Psalm xxvii.^4. 
lxxi. 14—18. Phil. iii. 3, 7—15, ZO. Col. iii. 17. Gal. ii. 20. 
vi. 14. 2 Cor. v. 7. Heb. xi — and to the best ends, Phil. i. 20, 
21, 23. 1 Pet. iv. 11. 1 Cor.'x. 31. vi. 19, 20. Isa. xliii. 21. 
1 Pet. ii. 9. 2. All the exercise of true faith is closely connected 
with his person God-man. By faith we believe God's declara- 
tions as manifested in him, Psalm ix. 10. 2 Cor. iv. 4, 6. In 
thus embracing them, we look to, receive, and cleave to him, 
Isa. xlv. 22. John i. 12. Acts xi. 23. By faith we receive his 
righteousness, as fulfilled by, and lodged in his person, Isa. xiv. 
24. 2 Cor. v. 21. By faith we, through his word, as in him, 
live on his person, and extract all necessary supplies of life, 
strength, and holiness, and comfort, from it, Gal. ii. 20. Phil, 
iv. 13, 19. 2 Tim. ii. 1. 1 Cor. xvi. 13. 1 Pet. i. 8. v. 9. By 
faith we present our persons, nature, services, necessities, 
plagues, and burdens to God, only through his person and 
mediation, Heb. iv. 14 — 16. x. 19 — 24. His person and fulness 
are all in all to faith : and hence perhaps he is called by its 

name, Gal. iii. 23, 25. His manhood is the object of faith, 

only in so far as his invisible Godhead is connected with, and 
manifested in, its conception, assumption, union, fulness, and 
work, John i. 14. 1 Tim. iii. 16. 2 Cor. iii. 18. iv. 4, 6. 3. All 
paving hope hath Christ's person in his death, and the perfections 
of God as glorified in him, and the promises of the new cove- 
nant as ratified in his blood, for its foundation, 1 Tim. i. 1. 
Col. i. 27. Psalm cxix. 81. — Dwelling in us, he is the actuator 
of it, the pledge and earnest of our full enjoyment of that which 
we expect, Col- i. 27- He, in his person and "fulness, and all 
the fulness of God in him, to be immediately and eternally 
enjoyed in heaven, is the consummate object of our hope, 2 Cor. 
iv. 17, 18. 1 John iii. 2, 3. Psalm xvii. 15.; and hence he is 
called our hope y 1 Tim. i. 1. Col. i. 27. Jer. xiv. 8. xvii. 7. 
4. All true love to God or men is formed in us, and drawn out 
by believing views of his person, Gal. v. 6. He is loved as 
God-man, and God is loved in him, John i. 14. 1 Pet. i. 8. 
1 John iv. 9, 10, 16, 19. Graces, comforts, scriptures, ordi- 
nances, truths and saints, are loved as connected with, and con- 
formed to him, 2 Pet. i. 3 — 8. Psal. cxix. lxxxiv. xxvi. 8. cxix. 
63. xvi. 3. 5. All true gospel-repentance is produced by be- 
lieving views of his person God-man allied to, and suffering for 
us, as at once the greatest demonstration of the evil of sin, and 
of God's love to us sinners, Zech. xii. 10 — In him God is ap- 
prehended as merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, trans- 
gression, and sin ; and so as one to whom we may with safety 



278 OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 

and ease turn from sin, 2 Cor. v. 19. Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. Hos. 
xiv. 1. 4. His righteousness is that of God in our nature, 
surety for us, being imputed to us, frees us from the broken 
law and its curse, and so breaks the power of sin in us, and 
enables us to draw near to God as a pacified Father, Friend, 
and Master, 2 Cor. v. 14, 15, 19, 20. Heb. x. 19—22. Isa. xliv. 
22. Jer. iii. 1, 4, 14, 22. Hos. xiv. 1, 4. 

VII. All the saints' true and acceptable worship of God is 
closely connected with the person of Christ God-man. His per- 
son simply as God is the proper object of it. His divine nature 
is the formal reason of it, Psalm xiv. 11. ii. 12. John v. 23. Isa. 
xliii. 8. Gal. iv. 8. His manhood and mediation are the great 
motives to, and means of it, Eph. ii. 18. iii. 12. His righte- 
ousness and intercession render it accepted, 1 Pet. ii. 5. Rev. viii. 
3, 4. And it affords them no small encouragement in their trou- 
bles, wants, weakness, and dying moments, that they have a 
God in their nature to call and depend on, 2 Cor. xii. 7, 8. Rev. 
v. 3, 4, 6. Isa. lxiii. 9. Luke xvii. 5. 2 Thess. ii. 16, 17, Acts 
vii. 56—59. * * 

VIII. All the new obedience of believers, as it is a walking 
with God, is closely connected with the person of Christ God- 
man. Christ himself and his Father's laws and ordinances, as 
in, and from him, are our way, John xiv. 6. Col. ii. 6. Heb. x. 
20. Isa. xxxv. 8. Psalm cxix. 1 , 30. Hos. xiv. 9. All the agree- 
ment between God and us, necessary to our walking with him, 
is made and maintained only in and by Christ, Amos iii. 3.. Dan. 
ix. 24. Col. ii. 14. 2 Cor. v. 19, 20. Rom. v. 10. Col. i. 20. 
Eph. i. 10. All the motives enforcing this walk, drawn from 
the love of God, and his promised favours, are only in Christ, 
1 John iv. 9, 10, 16, 19. 1 Cor. xv. 58. All the knowledge 
and wisdom necessary for promoting it are in him, John v. 37. 
i. 18. xvii. 3. 1 John v. 20. 1 Cor. i. 30. Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. All 
strength necessary for it is in him, Isa. xl. 29 — 31. Zech. x. 12. 
John xv- 5. Phil. iv. 13. 2 Tim. i. 1. Eph. vi. 10. All the con- 
fidence necessary to it is obtained in and through him, Heb. x. 
19—22. iv. 14—16. Psalm xxvii. 1—3. cxviii. 6—17. All har- 
mony of design with God, as our leader and companion, is ob- 
tained only in Christ ; and all the acceptableness of God's pre- 
sence and conduct to us, and of ours to him, Col. iii. 1 7. Rom. 
vii. 25. Isa. xliii. 21. 1 Cor. vi. 20. x. 31. 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9. iv. 11. 
Rom. xii. 1. — Even in all our relative duties, we must have 
Christ's person in us for their fountain, — Christ in his love for 
our pattern and motive, — Christ in his authority for our reason 
and rule, — and Christ in his honour for our end, Rom. xvi. 2, 
3, 7 — 13. 2 Cor. x. 1. Eph. v. 2, 22, 24, 25, 29. iv. 32. vi. I, 4, 
5,6, 7, 9- Phil. ii. 1—5. Col. iii. 16, 18, 20, 23, 24. iv. 1. 17 



I 

OF THE MEDIATORIAL PERSON OF CHRIST. 279 

Reflect. Have I seen and believed on this all-lovely, all- 
useful, Lord Jesus Christ? Hath it pleased God to reveal his 
Son in me ? Have I by faith beheld this great mystery of god. 
liness, this new thing created in the earth, — God made mani- 
fest in the flesh ? Have I turned aside to see this great sight, 
the bush burning and not consumed ? Have I beheld the glory of 
the Word made flesh, and dwelling among men, — dwelling in 
ME, — as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of 
grace and truth ? Have I, in this image of the invisible God, 
beheld the Father also ? Have I seen the glory of God in the 
face of Jesus Christ I — What think I of Christ ? Whose#on ? 
Whose Saviour is he ? — What is he to me ? — Is he whiteW|§nd 
ruddy, the chief among ten thousand ? — Is he altogether lovely, 
and my Beloved and my Friend ? — Beholding, as in a glass, the 
glory of the Lord, am I changed from glory to glory, even as 

by the Spirit of the Lord ? What would I have Christ to be 

to me, — to do for and to me ?— My soul, I charge thee be- 
fore God, never dare to preach a single sermon till thou hast 
cordially perused this truly divine system, Jesus Christ, as 
made of God to me wisdom ! — O the transcendently excellent 
thoughts, — devices, — and inventions that are here ! — how God 
might pardon sinful men, and put them among his children !-— 
how he might have mercy on his inveterate enemies, the rebel- 
lious revolters from his righteous government ! — how Grace 
might much more abound, and reign through righteousness to 
eternal life ! — how mercy and truth might meet together, righ- 
teousness and peace kiss each other ! — how the prey might be 
taken from the mighty, and the lawful captive be delivered .' 

Thoughts ! — how many ! — how condescending !— how deep ! 

— how high ! — how gracious ! — how fixed ! — how efficacious ! — 
how delightful ! — how precious ! — ——To convey them into my 
heart, into what new form of person, offices, and relations is 
the eternal Son of God, as it were, cast and moulded !— What 
new,— what stupendous manifestations of the manifold wisdom 
and knowledge of God ensue !— What mysteries of godliness, — 
mysteries of the kingdom !— What lectures concerning Jehovah 
and his gracious connections with sinful men,-— with sinful me ! 
—What things were gain to me, these I therefore count 
loss for Christ : yea, doubtless, I count all things but loss for 
the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ;-— 
and I do count them but dung to win him, and to he found in 
him. All the heaven I wish below is but to taste his love : and 
all the heaven I wish above is but to see his face. Oh ! for that 
eternity, — that eternity, when Christ God-man shall be my 
Teacher I—Christ shall be my system !— Christ shall be my 
Bible !— Christ shall be my all in all!. 



JW OF THE GENERAL OFFICES OF CHRIST. 



CHAP. II. 

Of the General and Particular Offices of Jesus Christ. 

TO constitute the Son of God in our nature, our Mediator in 
office, he was divinely called, appointed to his work, and fur- 
nished for it, Heb. v. 4, 5, 10. Isa. xlii. 6. xlix. 1—9.— In allu- 
sion to the anointing of the Hebrew kings, priests, and some- 
time^ prophets, at their instalment into their office, Psalm 
cxx*ui. 3. Exod. xxix. 7, 9, 21. 1 Sam. x. 1. xvi. 13. 1 Kings 
i. 34. 2 Kings xi. 12. 1 Kings xix. 16. ;— -his appointment to, 
and furniture for his work, is called an anointing, and him- 
self Messiah, Christ, or the Anointed, Dan. ix. 24, 25. Matt, 
xvi. 16. Johnvi. 69. i. 41. Luke ix. 20. Acts ii. 36. viii. 37. 
Psalm lxxxiv. 9. 1 Sam. ii. 10. The anointing of Christ 
largely taken, includes, 1. God's solemn setting him apart to 
be our Mediator. This was done in his designation of him to 
that office from all eternity, Prov. viii. 23. 1 Pet. i. 20. Psalm 
ii. 7, 8. Eph. i. 4. It was proclaimed by angels at his concep- 
tion and birth, Luke i. 33. ii. 10, 11. Heb. i. 6.; and by his Fa- 
ther at his baptism, before he entered on his publick ministry, 
Matt. iii. 17. ; and again a little before his death, Matt. xvii. 5. 
John xii. 28. Isa. xlix. 3. 2. God's giving him a fixed com- 
mission and authority to execute his mediatorial work : and 
hence he is represented as calledby God, Heb. v. 4, 5, 10. Isa. xlii. 
6. xlix. 1. ;—sent by God, John v. 38. vi. 29. vii. 28, 29. viii. 
26, 29, 42. Isa. xlviii. 16. ; — God's servant, acting in his name, 
and fulfilling his commandment, Isa. xlii. 1. xlix. 3. John x. 
18. xiv. 10, 11, 31.;— sealed by him, Johnvi. 27.— This com- 
mission was given to him from all eternity, Isa. xlii. 6. Prov. 
viii. 23. It was confirmed to him at his baptism and transfigu- 
ration, Matt. iii. 16, 17. xvii. 5. : and with respect to his hono- 
rary service, it was, as it were, renewed to him in his resurrec- 
tion and ascension, 1 Pet. i. 21. Eph. i. 20 — 22. Acts ii. 36. 
Matt, xxviii. 18. Dan. vii. 14. 3. God's furnishing him for the 
execution of his work. This included his preparing for him an 
undefiled manhood, Heb. x. 5. Jer. xxxi. 22. ; his furnishing 
this manhood with proper gifts and graces in its very formation 
and conception, Luke i. 35. Heb. vii. 26. ; his enlargement of 
these in his advancing life, Luke ii- 40, 52. Isa. xi. 2 — 4. xlii. 
1. lxi. 1. ; — the descent of the Holy Ghost upon him at his bap- 
tism, to fit him for his publick ministrations, Matt iii. 16. John 
i- 32. iii. 34. vi. 27. ; — the further assistance which he received 
in his ministerial and suffering work, Isa. xlii. 1,6. 1- 4, 7, 9. 
Mic. v. 4. ; — and, in fine, all that fulness of joy which he re. 



OP THE GENERAL OFFICES OF CHRIST. 281 

ceived in his resurrection and ascension, Psalm xlv. 7, 8. Acts 
ii. -28. ; and the lodging of all new. covenant fulness in his hand, 
that, as administrator, he may bestow it upon men, Psalm lxviii. 
18. Col. i. 19. Matt. xi. 27. John iii. 35. xvii. 2. 

The general offices- to which the Son of God in our na- 
ture was thus anointed, was that of Mediator, to which his 
characters of Saviour and Redeemer are reducible, John ix. 
33. 1 Tim. ii. 5. Heb. viii. 6. ix. 15. xii. 24. His work as a 
Mediator is to bring an offended God and sinful offending men 
to an honourable and happy agreement, 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6. Heb. ix. 
15. xii. 24. John ix. 33. — In so doing he removes God's legal 
enmity against men and the real effects of it, and opens an ho- 
nourable vent for his mercy and love to them, by his obedi- 
ence and satisfaction, — and intercedes for the bestowal of his 
favours on them, Rom. v. 8 — 10, 19, 21. 1 Tim. ii. 6. Matt. xx. 
28. Heb. vii. 25. Rom. viii. 34. ; — and he rftnoves our sinful ig- 
norance, guilt, pollution, and enmity against God, Tit. ii. 11, 
12, 14. Isa. xlii. 6, 7. xlix. 8—12, 24—26. Thus he is a Re- 
deemer or Saviour by the price of his surety-righteousness, — 
and by the power of his intercession, spiritual illumination, 
conquest, government and protection, Matt. xx. 28. Acts xx. 
28. Rev. v. 9. Tit. ii. 14. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. ii. 24. iii. 18.— Isa. 
xlii. 6, 7. lxi. 1 — 3. xlix. 6, 8, 24 — 26. Psalm ex. 2, 3. xxii. 27 
— 31. lxxii. 

Christ is not merely a Mediatorial Inter-messenger, who inter- 
cedes for us with God, — reveals to us the method of salvation, 
— confirms God's promises and doctrines by his death as a mar- 
tyr, — and exemplifies to us a course of holy obedience. But, l.The 
Scripture describes him as a Mediator that gave himself a ran- 
som for men, 1 Tim. ii. 6. Matt. xx. 28. Acts xx. 28 that 

makes peace by his blood, Col. i. 20. Eph. ii. 14. 1 Pet. i. 19. 
Heb. xii. 24. xiii. 12. ; — and who is the Surety of the new cove- 
nant, Heb. vii. 22. Psalm cxix. 122. Isa. xxxviii. 14. that by 
his blood obtains eternal redemption for us, Heb. ix. 12 — 15. 
x. 14 — 18. Rev. v. 9. ; and in allusion to the blood of sacrifices 
shed for transgressors, his is called the blood of sprinkling, Heb. 
xii. 24. 1 Pet. i. 2. 2. The persons between whom and God 
he was Mediator, were Theostygeis, hated hj and haters of God, 
and so needed a reconciling ransom to be paid for them, Rom. 
i. 30. viii. 7, 8. Psalm v. 4 — 6. Zech. xi. 8. Prov. xvi. 5. 3. If 
Christ had been a Mediator only by his doctrine, example, and 
intercession, he could not have been the one only Mediator be- 
tween God and men, according to 1 Tim. ii. 5. ; for prophets, 
apostles, and preachers, especially such as suffered martyrdom, 
were useful in these forms, as well as he, Acts xx. 17-— 24. 
1 Tim. iv. 16. 2 Tim. ii. 10. 

Qq 



282 * OF THE MINERAL OFFICES OF CHRIST. 

Christ is Mediator according to both his natures, divine and 
human. Indeed some of his acts, as working of miracles, were 
merely divine. Others, as eating, drinking, weeping, or the like, 
were properly human. But his Mediatorial acts, though they 
more immediately proceed from one of his natures, are consi- 
dered as the works of his person God-man. 1. The Scripture 
never refers the mediation of Christ to any one of his natures, 
but to himself or his person, Matt. xx. 28. Acts xx. 28. 1 Cor. 
ii. 8. Heb. ix. 14. Tit. ii. 14. Gal. i. 4. Rev. v. 9. 1 Pet. ii. 
24. iii. 18. 2. He assumed our nature, that he might execute 
his mediatorial office, and was made flesh, without any confound- 
ing of his natures. His acts and sufferings must therefore be 
considered as the acts and sufferings of his person God-man, 
Gal. iv. 4. 5. John iii. 16. 1 John iv. 9, 10. Rom. viii. 3,4. 
3. It hath already been proved, that the execution of all his 
offices require his two natures united in one person, Isa. xlviii. 
17. Heb. ix. 14. Eph. v. 2. Psalm ex. 2, 3. 4. It was pecu- 
liarly necessary, that he should be Mediator according to his 
divine nature. According to that, he chiefly humbled himself, 
and took upon him the form of a bend-servant, Phil. ii. 6 — 8. 
and in some respects acted as a Mediator before his incarnation, 
Zech. i. 8 — 12. iii. 2 — 4. Gen. iii. xii. xv. xvii. xxii. xxviii. 
Nor could our redemption, forgiveness, and eternal life be pur- 
chased, procured, or bestowed by a mere man, Isa. xlv. 17, 22, 
24, 25, xliii. 25. liii. 11. John xvii. 2, 3. 1 John v. 20. 

Christ is appointed Mediator only for men. No doubt, the 
holy angels are confirmed in their happy state by him as the 
Son of God, Heb. i. 3. Col. i. 17. God's grant of them to him 
for ministering spirits to his heirs of salvation, secures their 
continuance in holiness' and happiness, Heb. i. 14. Eph. i. 21, 
22. 1 Pet. iii. 22. The discoveries of divine perfections, in his 
redemption work, mightily enlarges their happiness, 1 Pet. i. 
12. Eph. iii. 10. But Christ is not a Mediator, even of con- 
firmation to angels. 1. The Scripture never represents him as 
the Mediatorial Confirmer of angels, but as the Mediatorial Sa- 
viour of men, 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6. Nay, it expressly asserts that 
he took not hold of angels, Heb. ii. 16. 3. No variance hath 
ever taken place between God and holy angels, and so there 
can be no need of a Mediator between them. 3. Christ having 
never assumed the nature of angels, hath no proper fitness to 
mediate between God and them. 4. Holy angels have no need 
of Christ's atonement, nor of his intercession founded upon it, 
— both which are essential parts of his mediatorial work, 1 Tim. 
ii. 6. 1 John ii. 1, 2. Heb. ix. 15. xii. 24. vii. 22, 25. Rom- 
viii. 33, 34. 5. If Christ be the mediatorial confirming head 
of angels, he might have been Mediator of the covenant of 
works. Innocent Adam had at least as much need of him as 



OF THE GENERAL OFFICES OF CHRIST. 283 

they. 6.ittiere is no more need of a Mediator of confirmation, 
than for 09 of creation. God c;in preserve his creatures in 
happiness, as well as form them perfectly holy. — Indeed angels 
are subjected to Christ as head of the church j but so are brutes, 
devils, and every thing else, Col. ii. 10. 1 Pet. iii. 22. Eph. i. 
21, 22. Psalm viii. 4 — 7 '. The all things gathered together in 
Christ and reconciled through the blood of his cross, are elect 
men, Jews and Gentiles, saints militant and triumphant. These, 
being once scattered, and at variance with God, need to be ga- 
thered and reconciled to him, Eph. i. 10. Col. i. 20. — And in- 
deed, when these are brought back from their rebellion to a 
state of friendship with God, and a course of holiness, the holy 
angels behave towards them, not as enemies, but as members 
of the same happy family with themselves, Heb. i- 14. Psalm 
xxxiv. 7. Rev. xix. 10. xxii. 9. 

Christ God-man is the only Mediator between God and men. 
1. The Scriptures expressly declare that there is but one Eis, 
one only Mediator between God and men, 1 Tim. ii. 5. Matt. 
xix.- 17. Eph. iv. 6. Rom. iii. 10, 11. 1 Tim. iii. 2, 12. Nor 
doth the Scripture ever hint that he is but the only primary 
Mediator, or the Mediator of redemption ; but represent him as 
the only Mediator that acts in reconciling men to God. And, 
in their pretended oblation of Christ in their mass, and in ad- 
mitting men's works or sufferings, as a satisfaction for sin, Pa- 
pists certainly make their priests and saints mediators of redemp- 
tion. 2. The Scripture represents him as the only Advocate with 
God for sinful men, and his advocacy as inseparably connected 
with his fulfilment of all righteousness for them, 1 John ii. 1, 
2. Heb. i. S. viii. 4, 6.ix. 12 — 24. Rom. viii. 33, 34- 3. There 
is no salvation from sin or misery, but through Christ, Acts iv. 
12. John xiv. 6. x. 7, 9. Eph. ii. 18. iii. 12. Heb. iv. 14 — 16. 
x. 19 — 22. 2 John 9- And Christ requires men to come di- 
rectly to himself without an introducer, Isa. xlv. 22. Prov. i. 22, 
23. ix. 4, 5. Matt. xi. 28. John vi. 37. vii. 37, 38. 4. There is no 
need of another Mediator, And none can be more fit, power- 
ful, condescending, Heb. vii. 25. ii. 14 — 18. iv. 14, 15. 5. Nei- 
ther saints nor angels have any necessary requisites of a Media- 
tor between God and sinful men. They canrfot so much as 
know our most important needs, or our thoughts or desires 
How unfit then to be mediators of intercession ? Isa. lxiii. 16. 
Jer. xvii. 9, 10. Rev. ii. 23. 6. The mediation of saints and 
angels pretended by papists originated from the heathen idola- 
trous acknowledgment of secondary gods, who were pretended 
to mediate between them and their pi'incipal gods. 7. Departed 
saints are never in Scripture represented as praying for any par- 
ticular person : And saints on earth are companions in tribula- 



284 OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST- 

tion ; they know one another's needs ; and prayer £m: one ano- 
ther is a part of their church fellowship, in this imperfect state. 
Christ's general office of Mediator includes his three par- 
ticular offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, — each of 
which implies an honourable station, and a charge or burden 
of work. I. The Scriptures expressly ascribe these three offices 
to him, Deut. xviii. 15 — 18. Acts iii. 22. vii. 37. — Psalm ex. 4. 
Heb. iii. 1. iv. 14. ix. 11. x. 21. — rsalm ii. 6. Matt- xxviii. 18. 
Isa. ix. 6, 7. Dan. vii. 14. 2. The anointing, station, and work 
of those that were typical of him figured him out in this three- 
fold office ; Moses, Samuel. Elijah, Elisha, Daniel, John Bap- 
tist, &c. typified him as a prophet : Melchizedek, Aaron and 
his descendants typified him as a priest : David and his succes- 
sors typified him as a king. And it is observable, that none 
prefigured him in all his offices in a stated manner. Melchize- 
dek was a king and priest, but not a prophet. David was a 
king and prophet, but not a priest. Moses and Samuel were 
stated prophets and civil rulers, but never, except on particular 
occasions, acted as Priests, Exod. xxiv. xxix. 1 Sam. vii. 9, iO. 
Xvi. 2, 3. Psalm xcix. 6. 3 X Our threefold misery of ignorance, 
guilt, and bondage required this threefold office in Christ, — 
that, as a prophet, he might instruct us in the nature and will 
of God j— -that, as a. priest, he might remove our guilt and bring 
us into peace with, and nearness to God ; — and that, as a king, 
he might deliver us from the bondage of sin and Satan, and 
make us like to, and happv with God, Eph. v. 8. John i. 18. 
— Rom. iii. 19—26. Matt'.xx. 28. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. Rev. v. 9. 
Isa. xlix. 24 — 26. 1 Cor. i. 2. Rev. iii. 4, 21. 4. The nature 
of our salvation requires this threefold office, that he might 
purchase it, as a priest ; repeal and offer it as a prophet ; and 
confer and apply it as a king, Heb. ix- 12 — 15. ii. 3. Psalm 
CX. 2, 3. 

In his execution of his offices upon us, Christ's prophetical 
convictions and illuminations of our mind necessarily precede 
his application of his priestly righteousness, and this precedes 
the subjection of our soul to him, as our king, Job xxxiii. 23, 
24. 2 Cor. v. 14. Heb. xii. 28. But in the natural order of his 
offices* Chrlst'&priesthood stands first. 1. Our salvation must 
be purchased and procured before it can be explained, offered, 
or applied, Psalm xxii. — in which Christ is represented as first 
purchasing salvation, as a suffering priest ; then publishing it, 
as a prophet, and lastly subduing and governing saved men, as 
their king. His being the way by his blood, precedes his being 
the truth and the life, John xiv. 6. Heb. x. 19, 20. 2. The 
sacrificing work of his priesthood belongs to his fulfilment of 
the condition of the new covenant made with him. But his 
prophetical and kingly work belong to the administration of it, 



OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 285 

which is the reward of his service. Nay, even his interceding 
work is the procuring cause of all that light and life, which he 
confers upon us as a prophet and king, Isa. liii. 10 — 12. Heb'. 
vii. 25. Kom. viii. 33,34. John xvi. 7 — 15. xvii. 3. In his 
execution of his prophetical and kingly offices, Christ, in the 
name of God, deals with men to promote their happiness ; but, 
in the execution of his priestly office, he deals with God for his 
honour, which ought to be first in order secured, Eph. v. 2. 
Heb. v. 1. ix. 24, 28. Psalm xxii. Isa. liii. A proper at- 
tention to the form of the covenant of grace plainly manifests 
that these offices of Christ are not the proper fountain of the 
promises of the gospel, but only the means of their fulfilment, 
Tit. i. 2. 2 Tim. i. 9. 

I. Christ, by the appointment of God, is a mediatorial Pro- 
phet. 1. The Scripture expressly represents him as a pro- 
phet, Deut. xviii. 15 — 18. Acts iii. 22. vii. 37- John i. 45. 
Isa. lxi. 1 — 3. Luke iv. 17. John vi. 14. vii. 40, 41. Luke 
xxiv. 19. Matt. vii. 29. 2. His metaphorical characters of 
A?igel, Messenger of the covenant, Interpreter, Witness, Coun- 
sellor, Wisdom of God, Apostle of our profession, Teaching 
Master, Light of the World, Sun of Righteousness, Bright and 
Morning Star, manifest him a prophet, Isa. lxiii. 9. Mai. iii. 
1. Job xxxiii. 23. Isa. lv. 4. ix. 6. Prov. viii. ix. 1 Cor. i. 24. 
30. Heb. iii. 1. Isa. ii. 2, 3. Matt, xxiii. 8, 10. xvii. 5. Mic. 
iv. 2, 3. John iii. 2. viii. 12. i. 9. ix. 5. xii. 35. Isa. xlii.6. 
ix. 2. Ix. 1, 19, 20. Mai. iv. 2. Rev. xxii. 16. ii. 28. 3. The 
light of the lamps in the Jewish tabernacle and temple, — the 
blowing of the silver trumpets, — as well as a multitude of 
typical persons, particularly prophets, typified him in his pro- 
phetical office, Gen. v. to Mai. iv. Luke i. iii. John i. iii. 

4. The effectual revelation of the mysteries of our redemption, 
in order to remove our ignorance, necessarily required this of- 
fice, Matt. xi. 27. John i. 18. Rom. x. 14 — 17. 

Being God in our nature, Christ hath an infinite fitness for 
being the great prophet of the church. 1. He hath an abso- 
lutely perfect and comprehensive knowledge of all things, in 
their nature, properties, and circumstances, John i. 18- xxi. 
17. ii. 25. Col. ii. 3- Heb. iv. 13. Prov. viii. 12, 14. 2. While 
he is full of infinite patience, kindness, compassion, and care 
to instruct us in every thing important, he hath a sovereign 
power over our conscience, James iv. 12. Matt. vii. 29. xvii. 

5. 3. Being absolutely infallible, being truth itself, the faith- 
ful and true witness, he can neither deceive nor be deceived, 
Heb. xiii- 8. John xiv. 6. Rev. i. 5. iii. 14. 4. He gives fur- 
niture and authority to all other teachers of God's revealed 
truths, 1 Cor. xii. 28. Eph. iv. 1 1, 12. Matt. xvi. 19. xxviii. 



286 OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 

19, 20. Mark xvi. 15, 16. Johnxx. 21, 23. Acts i. 8. Matt. 
x. Luke x. 

Christ neither needed, nor did ascend to heaven for instruc- 
tion and furniture, before he began his publick ministrations. 
1. The Scripture never represents him as ascending to heaven 
but once after his resurrection, which was after he had com© 
. down to our world in his incarnation, and gone down to the 
grave in his burial, Heb. ix. 12. viii. 1- i. 3. Eph. iv. 9. John 
vi. 38. xvi. 28. 2. As Christ's divine nature continued as 
much in heaven while he appeared on earth, as before, John 
iii. 13. i. 18. vii. 34. xii. 26. xvii. 24. ; and his human nature 
was filled with the Holy Ghost, John iii. 34. Isa. xliii. 1 — 4. 
lxi. 1, 2. xi. 2—4 Col. ii. 3. he needed not ascend up to hea- 
ven for instruction or furniture. Nay, long before his publick 
ministrations his wisdom amazed all that saw it in the temple, 
Luke ii. 46, 47. 

Christ began to execute his prophetical office immediately 
after Adam's fall, in publishing the first promise, and parti- 
cularly announcing the bad consequences of his sin, and teach- 
ing to offer sacrifices, Gen. iii. 14 — 21. In his own person, 
he, at different times, and in diversified forms, issued forth 
manifold instructions and predictions, under the Old Testa- 
ment, Gen. vi. ix. xii. xv. xvi. xvii. xviii. xxi. xxii. xxvi. 
xxviii. Exod- iii. — xxxiv. Lev. i. — xxvii. Num. v. vi. viii. 
x. xi. xii. xiv. xv- xvii. xviii. xix. xxviii. xxix. Josh. i. vi. 
vii. Judg. ii. vi. xiii. Zech. i. — vi. In his publick ministra- 
tions on earth, he executed this office, not by correcting or 
enlarging the moral law of God, but, 1. In explaining and en- 
forcing its commands, Matt. v. — vii. xv. xxiii. Luke vi. &c. 
2. In declaring the truths of the gospel, which is called the 
doctrine of Christ, Acts xiii. 12. 2 John 9. Tit.ii. 10. ; the tes- 
timony of Christ, 1 Cor. i. 6. ; the gospel of Christ, Rom. i. 
9 — 16. ; and which consists of divine truths necessary to be 
known in order to our salvation, but which could not be 
known by us without revelation as the doctrine of the Trinity 
of persons in the Godhead ; and especially those truths that 
originate in the plan of our redemption, and relate to the 
making parties and administration of the covenant of grace, 
Matt, xxviii. 19. xiii. xx. xxi. xxv. Luke viii. — xix. John 
iii. — xvii. xviii. 36, 37. 3. In foretelling future events, — his 
own sufferings and death, Matt. xii. 40. xvi. 21- xvii. 9, 22, 
23. xx. 18, 19, 28. xxi. 38, 39. xxvi. 2. ; the treachery of 
Judas, John vi. 70. xiii. 21, 27. Matt. xxvi. 21 — 25. ; Peter's 
denial of him, John xiii. 36 — 38. Matt. xxvi. 34, 35. ; the 
other ten disciples' taking offence at him, and forsaking him, 
Matt. xxvi. 31. John xvi. 32. ; his own resurrection and glo^ 
?v, John ii. 19. Matt. xvi. 21, 27. xvii. 9. xix. 28. xxvi. 32, 



OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 287 

64. ; the cruel persecution which his disciples and followers 
would meet with, and their support under it, Matt. x. xx. 
23. xxiv. 9, 10. xvi. 24 xix. 29. John xv. 20. xvi. 20, 22, 23- 
xv. 26, 27. xvi. 7 — 15. Luke xxiv. 49. Acts i- 5, 8. ; the spread 
of the gospel, the abolishment of the ceremonial law, and the 
calling of the Gentiles, Acts i. 8- Matt. xxvi. 13. viii. 11, 12. 
xxi. 41, 43. xxii- 1 — 13. xxviii. 19. John iv. 21 — 24. x. 16. 
xii. 23, 24. Luke xxiv. 47. Mark xvi. 15, 16.; the rejection, 
ruin, and dispersion of the Jewish nation, Matt. iii. 10. viii. 
11, 12. xii. 38 — 45. xxi. 33 — 44. xxii. 1 — 13. xxiii. xxiv. 
Luke xi. 42 — 51. xiv. 16 — 24. xvii. 20 — 37. xix. 12 — 27, 41— 
44. xxi. John viii. 21. ; and the form and procedure of the 
last judgment, Matt. xxiv. xxv. John v. 28, 29. Matt. xix. 
28, 29. — After his resurrection he comforted his disciples, and 
instructed them concerning the form and ordinances of the 
gospel-church, &c. Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. Mark xvi. 15 — 18. 
Luke xxiv. John xx. xxi. Acts i. 2 — 8. — After his ascension, 
he instructed Saul, Ananias, and John, Acts ix. xxii. xxvi. 
Rev. i. — iii. vi. x. xxii. — In the heavenly state, his immediate 
displays of his person manifest the perfections of God, Isa. Ix. 
19, 20. Rev. xxi. 23. 

In his personal execution of his prophetical office, 1. Christ, 
in an authoritative, bold, and perfect manner, declared divine 
truths, Heb. i. 1. ii. 3. Matt. vii. 29. John v^i. 46. He often 
represented them in parables, that he might fulfil old Testa- 
ment predictions, Psalm xlix. x. 2. lxviii. 1,2.; might mani- 
fesf'the spirituality of his own mind, and teach us to improve 
every common incident as a spiritual instructer, John iii. 12, 
13. ; might effectually reprove the Jews, without enraging them, 
Matt. xxi. 28 — 46. ; might more readily instruct the attentive 
and thoughtful, illustrating divine truths in a manner delight- 
ful to their mind, and easy for their memory, Jer. xiii. xviii. xix. 
Ezek. iv. v. xii. xv. xvi. xvii. xix. xxiii. Isa. xlviii. 17. 1. 4. 
lvii. 18. Hos. xii. 10. ; and might justly occasion the blindness 
and ruin of those that hated his instructions, Matt. xiii. 10— 
15. 2. He exemplified the truths which he taught, in his 
own person and conduct, Eph. v. 2. 1 Pet. ii. 21. 1 Thess. i. 
6. 3. He attested his doctrines by his miracles, his death 
and sacraments, John v. 36 x. 38- Xviii. 36, 37. Matt, xxviii. 
19. xxvi. 26—28. 4. He did, and doth, effectually apply his 
doctrines, laws, promises, and threatenings to men's conscience, 
Isa. xlviii. 17. John vi. 63- 

Christ also executes his prophetical office in a mediate man- 
ner, by appointing and furnishing angels, prophets, apostles, 
pastors, teachers, parents, masters, &c. — to intimate his truths 
to men's ears, Heb. i. 1. Eph. iv. 11, 12. vi. 4. Gen. xviii. 19. 
Isa. xxxviii. 19. ; by sending his Spirit to qualify his messen- 



288 OP THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST- 

gers ; and to explain and apply their instructions to men's 
hearts, 2 Pet. i. 1 >. — 21. Heb. xii. 25. Acts vii. 38, 54. Deut. 
xxxii. 10. Luke ii. 25, 32. 1 Pet. i. 11, 12, 23. 1 Thess. i. 5. 
ii. 13. Acts ii. — vi. John xvi. 7 — 14. Isa. lix. 21 — l 3ut Christ 
far excels all created instructors. 1. Being the xvisdom of God y 
he had, and hath a comprehensive knowledge, of divine truths, 
and of all the spiritual conditions of his hearers, Prov. viii. 
Col. ii. 3. Heb. iv. 13. Rev. ii. 23. 2. He neither did, nor 
doth need any instruction, having all knowledge in, and of 
himself, John i. 18. ii. 25. iii. 32, viii 38 — 40. 3. He can 
open men's understandings, and make them spiritually to un. 
derstand and a^ply his instructions, Luke xxiv. 45. 1 John v. 
20. Acts xvi. 14. 4. His exemplification of his instructions 
in his own person, is absolutely perfect, 2 Cor. iv. 4, 6. Col. 
i. 15. Matt. xvii. 5. John viii. 29. 2 Cor. v. 21. 1 Pet. ii. 21, 
22. 5. He delivered his doctrines, not in the name of Jeho- 
vah, as one different from and superiour to him, but in his 
own name, as his own oracles, John iii. 3, 5. vi. viii. x. Matt. 
v. — vii. xiii. xx. xxiii. xxiv. xxv. 6. He wrought all his 
miracles, by which he confirmed his mission and doctrine, in 
his own name, and by his own power, without ever praying 
for the exertion of any divine power in effecting them, John 
x. 32, 38. Matt. xi. 5. 7. While his death attested his 
doctrines, it chiefly served as an atonement for the sins of his 
people, Matt. xx. 28. Tit. ii. 14. 1 Pet. ii. 24. iii. 18. Rev. 
v. 9. 

Christ's execution of his prophetical office produces, 1. Ra- 
tional knowledge of divine truths by external declarations of 
them. 2. Experimental, but not saving knowledge of them, by 
these external declarations attended with awakening afflictions 
and common operations of the Holy Ghost, Heb. vi. 4, 5. Matt, 
xiii. 20, 22. Isa. lviii. 2. 2 Pet. ii. 20. 3. Saving, heart-con- 
quering, and sanctifying knowledge of them, by the especial and 
effectual influence and application of them by the Holy Ghost, 
John vi. 44,45, 65. 1 Tim. iii. 15—17. 1 Thess. i. 5. ii. 13. 
2 Thess. ii. 13, 16, 17. iii. 5. 

II. Christ is a Priest appointed by God to offer sacrifice of 
atonement for men's sin, — and to intercede with God for their 
eternal redemption. 1. He is often expressly called a priest in 
Scripture, Psalm ex. 4- Zech. vi. 13. Heb. ii. 17. iv. 14. iii. 1. 
v. 5, 6, 10. vi. 20. vii. 3, 17, 21, 26. viii. 4. ix. 11. x. 21. 
2. Offering sacrifice, and making intercession, which are the 
work of a priest, are ascribed to him, Eph. v. 2. Heb. ix. 14. 

vii. 24, 27. x. 7, 10, 14. ix 24. vii. 25- Rom. viii. 34. His 

priesthood being only manifested by Revelation, and being the 
foundation of his other offices, — and especially because it would 



•F THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 2W 

be disbelieved and detested by unrenewed hearts, and as he, in 
the sacrificing work of it, needed peculiar encouragement, he 
was installed in it by the oath of God, and had it prefigured by 
an uncommon multitude of types, some personal, as Melchize- 
dek, Aaron and his sons, &c. and some real, as sacrifices, obla. 
tions, &c. Gen. xiv. xv. xxii. Lev. i.— xvi. Num. xv. xvii. xxviii. 
xxix. Heb. v.— x. Psalm ex. 4. 

The Levitical priests resembled Jesus Christ in their divine 
call to their work ; their preparation for it ; their necessary pu- 
rity and perfection j their work of offering sacrifices to God for 
men's sin, and pleading for his favours to them, Exod. xxviii. 
xxix. Lev. xxi. xxii. i. — ix. xvi. Heb. v. — x. But he infinitely 
excels them, — in the dignity and holiness of his person,— in the 
solemnity of his call, — in his being the only priest of his order, 
—the only immediate approacher to God;— -in the matter, effi- 
cacy, and unity of his sacrifice ;-— in the infinite prevalence of 
his intercession ;— and in the eternal continuance of his priest, 
hood, Heb. v.— x. 

Christ was a priest on earth during his humiliation, and con- 
tinues to be one in heaven for ever. 1. He executed both parts 
of his priestly work on earth. He offered himself a sacrifice for 
sin, Eph. x. 2,23—27- Heb- i. 3. xii. 27. iv. 25, 28. x. 10, 14. ; 
and made intercession, Heb. v. 7. John xvii. 2. None of the 
typical priests became priests by their entrance into the sanctu- 
ary of God, but were priests before they could lawfully present 

any oblations to him, Heb. v. 1. viii. 3. ix. 11, 12. Christ's 

two offices of Priest and King are so different in their types,— 
their work, — their object and tendency, that it appears altoge- 
ther absurd for any to pretend that they are the same. 

Christ's offering of himself a sacrifice, includes not only his 
sufferings, but his whole obedience to the broken law, habitual, ac- 
tive, or passive, — or his fulfilling the whole condition of the co- 
venant of grace. He began his sacrifice in his conception,— 
continued it through his whole life, and completed it on the cross 
and in the grave 1. The Scripture never restricts his satisfac- 
tion for sin to his sufferings on the cross, but represents it as 
including all his sufferings, and hence his holiness of nature and 
obedience of life, as therewith connected, Isa. liii. 2 — 5, 10. 
1 Pet. i. 18, 19. ii. 21, 24. iii. 18. Matt. xvi. 21. Heb. v. 7, 8. x. 
8, 9. Rom. v. 19, 17, 18. Phil. ii. 6 — 8. His agony in the gar- 
den was a remarkable part of his sufferings, Matt. xxvi. 38- Luke 
xxii. 44. ( Nor doth Zech. iii. 9. confine his giving satisfaction, 
but his finishing of it to a day. Nay, in God's reckoning, a day 
often denotes a whole period, Job xxiv. 1. Psalm xxxvii. 13. 
2. Christ was made in the likeness of sinful flesh, that the righ' 
teousness of the law might be fulfilled, which consists in holiness 
of nature, and obedience of life, as well as in enduring all the 

R r 



290 OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 

sufferings which God pleases to inflict as the punishment of sin, 
might be fulfilled in us, Rom. viii. 3, 4. And he was obedient 
unto death, Phil. ii. 8. Psalm xl. 8. John xvii. 4. x. 18. xiv 
31. 3. Christ's satisfaction, taken in its full latitude, must in- 
clude every thing which he, as our Surety, undertook to fulfil 
in our stead, — which must be all that we owed to the broken 
covenant of works, obedience as well as suffering punishment, 
Gal. iii. 10, 12, 13. ; for he came to fulfil the law, that we, by 
faith receiving his satisfaction as for us, may perfectly fulfil the 
law in him, Matt. 17, 18. Rom. iii. 31. viii. 4. 4. His sacrifice 
or satisfaction is the very same as his righteousness, Rom. i. 17. 
iii. 21,22. v. 18. Phil. iii. 9. Dan. ix. 24. Isa. xlv. 24, 25. Jer. 
xxiii. 6. Now this comprehends obedience to the precept of the 
broken law, as well as suffering punishment for sin commit- 
ted, Matt. iii. 15. Psalm xl. 8. Heb. v. 8. Phil. ii. 8. Luke xxiv. 
26. Hence we are made righteous, — made the righteousness of 
God in him, — his righteous qualities and works, as well as his 
sufferings, being imputed to us as our sins were to him, Rom. v. 
19. 2 Cor. v. 21. Isa. liii. 6. 1 Pet. ii. 24. iii. 18. 5. The law of 
God never promises nor bestows eternal life on men as the re- 
ward of mere suffering, but as the reward of obedience, Lev. 
xviii. 5. Matt. xix. 17. Rom. x. 5. Gal. iii. 12. 

But to anticipate objections, it must be observed, that, 1. 
Though Christ's holiness of human nature, obedience of life, 
and voluntary suffering, be each of them absolutely perfect in 
its own place, yet they must be joined together in forming one 
complete satisfaction answerable to the demands of the broken 
law, Matt. iii. 15. Luke xxiv. 26. Phil. ii. 7, 8. 2. Wherever 
our eternal redemption is represented as founded on Christ's 
blood or death, — that is, put for his whole righteousness, — and 
the rather, that he was under a legal death as long as he was 
fulfilling it, and his death and shedding his blood were the most 
striking and finishing ingredients in it. 3. Christ never became 
man but in order to satisfy the whole demands of the broken co- 
venant of works for us. He never, as man, owed any obedience 
to that law for himself, and therefore, all that he performed un- 
der it must be a satisfaction for us, Gal. iv. 4, 5. Rom. viii. 3, 
4. — Nor did Adam's owing obedience for himself hinder the im- 
putation of it to his posterity as their legal righteousness, if it 
had been finished. 4. Believers are not bound to fulfil any ho- 
liness of nature, or obedience of life, in the manner that Christ 
fulfilled them, i. e. under the curse, and to the broken covenant 
of works, Rom. viii. 1. vii. 4. vi. 14. Gal. iii. 13. ii. 19. 1 Cor. 
ix. 21. Nor to purchase eternal life, as he intended by his whole 
righteousness, Rom. v. 21. vi. 23. But their holiness of nature 
and life is an important ingredient in their purchased salvation 
and eternal life, Phil. iii. 8 — 14. 1 Thess. v. 23. 



OP THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OP CHRIST. 291 

In Christ's sacrifice, his person God-man was the priest : his 
human nature as subsisting in his divine person, was the matter 
offered : and his divine nature or person was the altar which sanc- 
tified kfo gift. Hence he is represented as giving' himself in sa- 
crifice ; for, though his manhood only obeyed and suffered, it 
did so as personally united to his divine nature, Tit. ii. 14. Gal. 
i. 4. Matt. xx. 28. Acts xx. 28. Eph. v. 2, 25. 1 Pet. ii. 24. iii. 

18. 2 Cor. v. 21. Gal. iii. 13. To illustrate his satisfaction 

for our sin, we may consider sin as a debt, for which we owe 
payment to God as our creditor, Mat. vi. 12.; — as an enmity, 
rendering us haters of God and hated by him, Col. i. 21. Rom. 
i. 30. viii. 7. Zech. xi. 8. ; and as a crime, which renders us gud- 
ty before him as a judge, Rom. iii. 19. Job. ix. 2. Psalm exxx. 

3. Proper satisfaction must therefore pay our debt to the law 

and justice of God, — remove his indignation from us, and re- 
concile us to him, — and make full atonement for our guilt in 
voluntarily bearing all the punishment due to it. Answer- 
able to which, Christ's righteousness may be considered as a 
ransoming- price, — a reco?2ciling sacrifice, — and a satisfying pu- 
nishment. — Or, might we say, Christ, as our Surety, pays our 
infinite debt, by giving his infinitely precious self for us, Matt. 
xx. 28. 1 Tim. ii. 5, 6. ; — as'our Mediator, he thereby removes 
the enmity between God and us, Col. i. 20, 21. 2 Cor. v. 19. 
21. ; — and as our Priest and sacrifice for us, he bears the punish- 
ment due to our sins, in order to make atonement for them, 
1 Pet. ii. 24. iii. 18. Isa. liii. 5, 6, 10, 11, 12. Gal. iii. 13. 

It was necessary in order to Christ's making proper satisfaction 
for us sinners, 1. That he should assume our nature, that our sin 
might be punished in the same nature in which it had been 
committed, Heb. ii. 14, 16. Psalm xl. 6—8. Heb. x. 5 — 9 
2. That he should be perfectly holy, owing no satisfaction for 
his own sin, Heb- vii. 26. 1 Cor. v. 21. 1 Pet. iii. 18. 3. That 
he should voluntarily consent to make satisfaction for our sin, 
Heb. x. 9. Psalm xl. 8. Jer. xxx. 21. 4. That he should have 
sufficient worth and efficacy to make full satisfaction for our sin, 
and power to raise himself from the dead, that so he might de- 
liver us without ruining himself, Tit. ii. 13, 14. Eph. v. 2. 
John x. 18. 5. That he should be absolute Lord of his own 
life, that he might dispose of it as he pleased, Exod. iii- 14. John 
x. 18. — If these things be supposed, no injury can happen to 
any, by his satisfaction for us ; — none to God, who planned this 
method of saving men, and whose perfections are highly glori- 
fied by means of it, Luke ii. 14. Eph. i. 6. ii. 7. ; — none to God's 
holy law, which is hereby magnified and made honourable, Isa. 
xlii. 21. Mat. v. 17, 18. ; — none to Christ himself, who willing- 
ly undertook this service, and quickly received his glorious re- 
ward, Luke xxiv. 26. Phil. ii. 6 — 1 1 . ; — none to the world, which 



292 OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 

lost no person belonging to it by his death, — from which he 
was quickly raised, Rev. i. 18.; — no hurt done by sparing guilty 
sinners, — they being sanctified, and made a blessing in the earth, 
Tit. ii. 14. Isa. vi. 13. 

Christ's satisfaction to the law and justice of God was abso- 
lutely necessary for purchasing the salvation of sinful men. 
1 . This necessity of it no way derogates from the honour of 
God's perfections. He may be almighty and free, though he 
cannot deny himself, or make himself like to, and a lover of, the 
wicked. He may sufficiently manifest his sovereignty in the 
circumstances, or the immediate subjects of punishment, though 
he cannot clear the guilty without an adequate satisfaction. It 
is infinitely to his honour, that he can render no sinners happy, 
without full atonement for their offences. It manifests, that 
such is the holiness of his nature, that he can have no fellow- 
ship with them, till his holy law and covenant, that original 
bond of connection between him and them, be fulfilled and 
magnified by themselves, or by another in their stead. It shews 
that such is his equity of nature, that he cannot acquit even his 
own beloved and only begotten Son, of sins imputed to him, 
without full satisfaction for them. It shews that such is his 
majesty, that he cannot suffer any contempt of himself to pass 
unpunished ; — that such is his wisdom, that it could and did 
contrive an infinitely mysterious method of saving men ; — that 
such is his infinite grace and love, that when it was necessary 
for our redemption, he, of his own free will, devoted his Son to 
be a sacrifice for us, Rom. viii. 32. John iii. 16. 1 John iv. 9, 
10. 2. It hath already been proved, that avenging justice is 
essential to God ; and that the condition of the broken cove- 
nant of works necessarily must be the condition of the covenant 
of grace, for the redemption of men, Psal v. 5, 6. xi. 5, 6, 7. 
cxix. 137. Gen. xviii. 25. Dan. ix. 7. Hab. i. 12, 13. Josh, 
xxiv. 19. Rora. i. 18, 32. Exod. xx. 5, 7. xxxiv. 7. Rom. ii. 6, 
8, 9. vi. 23. 3. The universally-practised attempts of mankind 
to make atonement for their sins by sacrifices or the like, ma- 
nifest that their reason suggests the necessity of satisfaction for 
sin ; and that even when they had lost sight of the real design 
and meaning of sacrifices, which had been suggested by divine 
revelation, their consciences still insisted for satisfaction to an 
offended God, Heb. x. 1, 4, 11. Rom. iii. 19, 20. Mic vi. 6, 7. 
4. The Scriptures represent God's giving Christ to be a ran- 
som for us, as an astonishing effect of his love, which it could 
not be, if he could have saved us by any easier method, without 
a full satisfaction for sin, John iii. 16. 1 John iv. 9, 10. Rom. 
v. 8, 21. Eph. v. 2. 2 Cor. viii. 9. 5. The penal sanction of 
God's law and covenant of works expressly required full satis- 
faction for sins committed, Gen. ii. 1 7. Deut. xxvii. 26. Ezek. 



OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 293 

xviii. 4. Rom. i. 18, 32. vi. 23. Without shedding of blood 
there is no remission of sin, Heb. ix. 22. Without an atoning 
sacrifice nothing is to be expected but a fearful looking lor 
of fiery indignation to devour the guilty, Heb. x. 26 — 31. 
Now, though particular threatenings, not confirmed by oi-.th, 
may be conditional, general ones are never such, Isa. iii. 11. 
Kom. ii. 8, 9. 6. God could not have exposed his only Son to 
such extreme debasement and suffering, if it had not been abso- 
lutely necessary for the redemption of elect sinners, Lam. iii. 
32, 33. Mic. vii. 18, 19. Isa. l'ni. 10. Rom. via. 32. Heb. ii. 10. 
Nay, all this was done to manifest his righteousness in the re- 
mission of men's sins, Rom. iii. 24 — 2(5. 1 John i. 9. And it 
became God to make him a perfect Captain of salvation through 
suffering, Heb. ii. 10. 

In vain it is pretended, I. " That God may abate his right 
in punishing offences against himself, as men may and often 
do:" for, 1. Men cannot in every case, as in prosecution of 
murder, give up with their right, Num. xxxv. 31, 32. Now 
sin is an intended, an attempted murder of God himself. 
2 God cannot give up his claim relative to the just punishment 
of sin, without doing injury to himself, whose honour and ma- 
jesty are affronted, — injury to his law, which is contemned and 
violated, — injury to his creatures under his government, which 
are hurt, or, if capable, would be tempted to, or hardened in 
sin. II. In vain it is pretended, " That satisfaction for sin 
cannot consist with the merciful forgiving of it;'' for, 1. Sins 
are not money-debts, in which payment from any hand is all 
that can be required, — but crhnes, which, in strict law, ought 
to be punished on the offender himself. 2. God's mercy shines 
infinitely brighter in his saving men through the blood of his 
Son, than if he had saved them without any ransom, Tit. iii. 
5 — 7. John iii. 16. Rom. v. 8, 21. iii. 24. 1 John iv. 9, 10, 16, 
19. Eph. v. 2, 25. 2 Cor. viii. 9. Gal. ii. 20, 21. 3. God's 
providing and accepting a satisfaction from his own Son in our 
stead, is an act of infinite mercy and grace". And as we con- 
tribute nothing to his making that satisfaction, or to his Father's 
accepting it, his remission of our sins, in respect of us, must 
be as full and free as if no satisfaction had been made, Rom. 
iii. 24 — 26. Eph. i. 6 — 8. ii. 7. III. In vain it hath been pre- 
tended, M That God hath forgiven many sins without regard 
to a satisfaction ; that Abel appeased God by his faith ; that 
God pardoned Ahabon account of his repentance, 1 Kings xxi. 
29. ; that, under the Old Testament, he never required any thing 
but faith and repentance as the conditions of pardon, Deut. 
xxx- 1 — 3. Jer. iii, 12 — 14, 22. xviii. 7, 8. Ezek. xviii. xxxiii. 
11, 14. 1 Kings viii. 33 — 50. Lev. xxvi. 40 — 45.; andthatthe 
gospel-covenant, being still more gracious, confers pardon of 



394 OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 

sin upon men, without any condition at all, Jer. xxxi. 31 — 34. 
Heb. viii. 10— 12. Matt, xviii. 27, 35. Luke vii. 41 — 48. Col. 
ii. 13. Eph. i. 7. iv. 32. Acts v. 31 :" — for, 1. Most of these pas- 
sages mentioned in the objection relate immediately to God's 
removal of temporal judgments from the Israelites, which wc 
do not hold to be any necessary satisfaction to his law or justice; 
2. When Abel or any other pleased, not appeased, God, by 
faith, it was because they thus presented to him the righteous- 
ness of Christ, as fulfilled in their stead, Rom. iii. 24, 25. Gal. 
ii. 16. Phil. iii. 9. 3. The gospel represents Christ as having 
fully satisfied for our sins, and so can require no satisfaction at 
all. — Nor doth the dispensation of it require faith and repent- 
ance as proper conditions of pardon, but as means of receiving 
and improving that which Christ purchased by his satisfac- 
tion, Isa liii. 6, 8, 11. Heb. x. 14. ix. 12, 13. 1 John ii. 1, 2. 
John xiv. 6. i. 29. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. Luke i. 7*4, 75. Ezek. 
xvi. 62, 63. xxxvi. 25, 31. 4. According to the new covenant, 
believers, under both Testaments, receive a free pardon of 
their sin without any satisfaction made by themselves, but not 
without one made by Christ ; and hence are represented as for- 
given or saved freely by grace, and yet as redeemed with a great 
price, Rom. iii. 24. Eph. i. 7. ii. 8. v. 2, 25. Phil. i. 29. Acts 
xx, 28. Matt. xx. 28. 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. Gal. i. 4. ii. 20. iii. 13, 
14. Tit. ii. 14. 1 Pet. i. 19. iii. 18. Rev. v. 9. Rom. v. 8,21. 
IV. In vain it is pretended, " That if God so loved the world 
before he gave his Son to obey and suffer for men, there could 
be no need of his obedience and death to reconcile him to them.'' 
—For though God loved that which was his own about his 
elect, yet he could have no delight in, or fellowship with them, 
but in the way of destroying their sin, which could not be done 
without a proper satisfaction made for it. His love could only 
vent towards them in an honourable manner. Judges may love 
criminals whom they cannot dismiss unpunished. V. In vain it 
is pretended, " That, if God could have shortened Christ's suf- 
ferings one moment, he might have shortened them two, &c. &c. 
till the whole moments, and hence the whole punishment, would 
be dropped :" — for though the moments or other circumstances 
of a murderer's execution may be abridged, yet nothing essential 
to his punishment can lawfully be dispensed with. 

Christ made a true and proper satisfaction to the law and 
justice of God, for the sins of his people. 1. The Scripture re- 
presents him as a Surety charged in law with our sins, and 
bearing their punishment from God, Heb. vii. 22. Job ix. 33. 
Psalm cxix. 122. Isa. liii. 6,4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12. John i. 29. 
2 Cor. v. 21. 1 Pet. ii. 24. iii. 18. 1 John ii. 1, 2. iv. 9, 10. 
Rom. iii. 24 — 26. iv. 25. v. 6 — 11, 16 — 21. 2. It represents 
him as redeeming us by the price or ransom of his obedience 



©F THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. '295 

and sufferings, Job xxxiii. 24. Isa. liii. 5, 10, 11. Matt. iii. 15. 
xx. 28. xxvi. 28- 1 t'.or. vi. 20. 2 Cor. v. 15, 21. Rom. v. 6, 7, 

8. viii. 32, 33, 34. Gal i. 4. iii. 13, 14. iv. 4,5. Eph. i. 7. v. 
2, 25. Col. i. 14, 20. 1 Thess. v. 10. Tit. ii. 14. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. 
ii'. 21. iii. 18. 1 John ii. 1, 2. Rev. v. 9. John x. 11, 15. And 
it must be remarked, that hyper and anti in these Greek texts 
properly mean instead of. 3. It ascribes to the obedience 
and death of Christ as their native and necessary effects, the 
purchasing- men, Acts xx. 28. 1 Cor. vi. 20. Tit. ii. 14. Rev. v. 

9. Gal. iii. 13. iv. 4, 5. — the expiating- and purging away their 
sin, Heb. i. 3. ix. 14. x 22. 1 John i. 7, 9. Rev. i. 5. ; atonement 
or propitiation for sin, Job xxxiii. 24. Rom. iii. 24 — 26. v. 11. 
Heb. ii. 17. 1 John i. 7. ii. 2. iv. 10. ; their reconciliation to God, 

Rom. v. 10. 2 Cor. v. 18 21. Eph. ii. 16. Col i. 20, 21. ; their 

deliverance from sin, — from the curse, and from the law as a 
covenant, Tit. ii. 14. John i. 29. 1 John iii. 5, 8. Eph. i. 7. 
v. 25. Gal. iii. 13. Rom. viii. 1, 2, 3'i, 34. vii. 4. vi. 14. Gal. 
iv. 4, 5. ii. 19, 20. ; their health and peace, Isa. liii. 5. 1 Pet. ii. 
24. Mic. v. 5. Eph. ii. 13, 14. 4. It represents his obedience 
and death as a sacrifice for sin, Isa. liii. 10. John i. 29. Rom. 
iv. 25. iii. 24, 25. Eph. v. 2. 1 Cor. v. 7. Heb. ix. 14, 26, 28. 
vii. 27. viii. 3. x 1, 12, 14 — Now, it may be observed, that 
all the sacrifices, especially the sin-offerings, were ceremonial 
satisfactions in the stead of transgressors, that God might be 
reconciled to them in a typical manner, — in order to which, the 
sin of the offenders was emblematically transferred to the un- 
blemished animal, by the laying on of their hands on its head, 
before it was slain in sacrifice : — and hence the sin-offerings and 
trespass-offerings had the very name of sin, trespass, or guilt, 
given to them by the Hebrews, Lev. i. — vii. xvi. Num. vii. 
xxviii. xxix. Exod. xxix. &c — All these sacrifices were typical 
of that of Christ ; and hence quickly ceased after his death, 
Heb. vii. 11 — 25. x. 4, 5, 14, 18- xiii. 10. 5. In the obedience 
and death of Christ we find every thing which the broken law 
could demand in a satisfaction for sinful men ; and nothing which 
could be demanded of him for himself. He was made under the 
law, Gal. iv. 4. He was a bond-servant, obedient unto the 
slavish, the accursed death of the cross, Phil. ii. 7, 8. He ful- 
filled all righteousness in answer to the demands of the broken 
law, Matt. iii. 15. v. 17. Heb. v. 8. Dan. ix. 24. John viii. 29. 
Being made sin, having all the sins of his people imputed to him, 
2 Cor. v. 21. Isa. liii. 6. 1 Pet. ii. 24. — he was made a curse, 
Gal. iii. 13. ; — and hence was treated by God and by creatures 
as if he had been a remarkable transgressor, Isa. Iii. 14. 1. 6. 
xlix. 7. liii. Psalm xxii. 1 — 21. lxix. 1 — 20. Rom. viii. 3, 32. 
Matt. xxvi. xxvii. John xviii. xix. Heb. ii. 10. 6. He was 
crucified for us y in a manner in which none other ever was, 



296 OP THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 

1 Cor. i. 13. : and hence must have died in our stead in law 
reckoning ; for if he had but died for our good, that had been 
no more than Paul and others have done, or ought to do, in la- 
bouring and suffering for the benefit of the church, Col. i. 24. 

2 Cor. i. 6. Phil. ii. 1/. 2 Tim. ii. 10. iii. 10, 11. iv. 6, 7. 

1 John iii. 16. 7. In consequence of his obedience and suf- 
fering fulfilled for, and imputed to us, we become righteous 
before God in law-reckoning, Rom. v. 16 — 19. viii. 3, 4. 2 Cor. 
v. 21. Phil. iii. 9. Isa. xlv. 24,25. ; and though by nature chil- 
dren of wrath, are legally reconciled to him, Rom. v. 7, 10. 

2 Cor. v. 18—21. Col. i. 20, 21. Eph. ii. 2, 11, 14. 

To prevent objections, it must be observed, 1. No passages 
of Scripture relative to men's bearing their oxvn iniquity, interfere 
with God's demand of satisfaction from his innocent and holy 
Son in our stead. Those in Ezek. xviii. 4 — 30. xxxiii. 20. Isa. 
iii. 11. Rom. ii. 8, 9. either relate particularly to the wicked 
Jews there spoken of, or merely denote the certain ruin of ob- 
stinate sinners. — Children have often suffered from God in the 
punishment of their parents' sin, Exod. xx. 5. 2 Kings x. Psalm 
exxxvii. 8,9. Hos. xiii. 16. Isa. xiii. 16. Jer. xlvii. 3. Lev. 
xxvi. 39. Luke xxiii. 28, 29. Or subjects in the punishment 
of their rulers, Judges ix. 1 Sam. ii. — iv. xiii. xv. xxviii. xxxi. 

2 Chron. xiii. xxi. xxviii. 1 Kings xi. 22. And, if Christ 

had not suffered as our Surety, having our sins imputed to him, 
he could never have suffered at all, especially in so tremen- 
dous a manner, — being so holy and virtuous in himself. 2. The 
Scripture never hints, that Christ suffered only, or chiefly, to 
confirm his doctrine, procure experience, learn to sympathize 
with us, leave us an example of finished virtue, and to purchase 
eternal life for himself, — but to make atonement for sin, which 
doth not hinder it from answering other subordinate ends. 
3. Though Christ's satisfactory obedience and sufferings be not 
imitable by us, with respect to his end of satisfying God's law 
and justice, they are an excellent pattern in their matter and 
manner, being intended for the glory of God and the benefit of 
men, Eph. v. 2. 1 John ii. 6. 1 Pet. ii. 21. 4. Christ suffered 
every natural ingredient of the punishment of our sin, though 
he did not suffer those which merely flow from the curse and 
its penal effects, as lying on a finite or sinful creature, as do- 
minion of sin and eternity of punishment. And indeed, had he 
been capable of these, he could never have made any satisfac- 
tion. 5. A judge may demand satisfaction for offences, and ) ? et 
give it himself. And, though Christ indeed equally satisfied ali 
the divine persons, who were all equally offended, yet the Father 
peculiarly sustained the character of a judge, in the work of our 
redemption. 6. Instead of encouraging men in sin, Christ's sag* 
tisfaction effectuallv redeems them from it. Tit. ii. 14- 1 Pet. 



OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 297 

i. 18, 19. Matt. i. 21. Rom.vi. 10 — 12. The application of his 
righteousness to their conscience effectually delivers them from 
the strength and dominion of it, Rom. vii. 4. vi. 14. Gal. ii. 19. 

1 Cor. xv. 56. The believing views of it most powerfully 
determine them to hate sin, to love and practise holiness, 
Rom. vi. 10, 11, 12. 2 Cor. v. 14, 15 Psalm cxix. 32. cxvi. 16. 
Luke i. 74, 75. Heb. xii. 28- 7. Our gracious obedience and 
patient suffering are exceedingly profitable in many respects, 
though they neither satisfy the justice of God nor purchase our 
eternal happiness, Psalm xix. 11. Isa. iii. 10. 1 Cor. xv. 58. 
Rev. xiv. 13. iii. 21. xxii. 14. 

Christ's obedience and sufferings are a satisfaction so com- 
plete to all the demands of the law and justice of God, and a 
price so full for our eternal redemption, that nothing can be 
added to it. 1. Such is the infinite dignity of Christ's person, 
that his fulfilment of the broken law is sufficient to balance all 
the debt of all the elect, nay of millions of guilty worlds, Col. 
ii. 9. Isa. vii. 14. ix. 6. Jer. xxiii. 6. Zech. xiii. 7. Tit. ii. 13, 
14. Acts xx. 28. 2. God hath clearly manifested his accept- 
ance of Christ's satisfaction as perfect, in his raising him from 
the dead, exalting him to his right hand, and making him head 
over all things to his church, Rom. i. 4. Phil. ii. 6—11. Heb. 
ii. 8 — 10. John xvi. 10. Isa. xlii. 21. liii. 10 — 12. 3. Christ's 
offering himself but once, manifests the absolute perfection of 
his satisfaction by it, Heb. vii. 27. ix. 25 — 28. x. 1 — 14, 18. 
Rom. v. 15 — 19. 2 Cor. v. 21. 1 Pet. iii. 18. 4. Our complete 
justification by God, our reconciliation to him, and redemption 
from all evil to perfect and everlasting happiness, which are the 
immediate effects of Christ's satisfaction, demonstrate the per- 
fection of it, Isa. xlv. 24, 25. Rom. viii. 1, 33. iii. 24. x. 16 — 21. 

2 Cor. v. 21. Col. i. 20, 21, 22, 28. ii. 10. 1 John i. 7, 9. Heb. 
i. 3. ix. 12, 14. x. 10, 14, 18. ii. 10. — Hence it necessarily fol- 
lows, 1. That in God's acceptance of Christ's righteousness 
there neither is nor can be any taking part for the whole, or any 
thing instead of that which is of greater value, Isa. liii. 4 — 12. 
2 Cor. v. 21. Isa. xlv. 24, 25. 2. That as the best works of 
believers cannot satisfy for them in the least before God, as 
their judge, Isa. lxiv- 6. Phil. iii. 8, 9. ; so the infinite per- 
fection of Christ leaves no possible room for their making any 
satisfaction, 2 Cor. v. 21. Acts xx. 28. Rev. v. 9. 

To prevent objections it may be observed, 1. It is absurd to 
distinguish between the guilt of the fault of sin, and the guilt 
of punishment. If Christ's satisfaction therefore remove the 
chargeableness of our faults upon us in order to punishment, 
there can remain no obligation to punishment, Rom. viii. 1. 
Isa. liv. 9- Rev- v. 9. 2. Though elect men continue in a le- 

Ss 



298 OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 

gal state of wrath, till they be spiritually united to Christ, yet 
the moment of their deliverance being from all eternity fixed in 
his covenant with his Father, all that they meet with, even 
under the curse, is managed by him for the introduction of their 
happiness ; and so can be no part of that satisfaction which 
they owe for their sin. 3. All that believers suffer in then- 
state of union to Jesus Christ, is but fatherly chastisements, 
proceeding from his Father's love to them, purchased by his 
righteousness for them, and secured by his new-covenant pro- 
mises ; and so can be no satisfaction to the penalty of the bro- 
ken covenant of works, Col. i. 24. 1 Pet. iv. 13. 2 Cor. i. 7. 
Heb. xi. 26, 27. xii. 6, 11. Rev. iii. 19. 2 Tim. i. 8. Psalm 
cxix. 67, 71, 75- 4. Mercy and truth exercised prevent noto- 
rious vices, and the temporal judgments which attend them, or 
even manifest the persons pardoned by God, Dan. iv. 27. Prov. 
xvi. 6. ; but never satisfy for sin, or purchase absolution from 
God's avenging wrath on account of it, Heb. ix. 22. 1 Thess. i. 
10. Acts iv. 12. 5. Believers giving up themselves and services 
to the honour of God, is never intended as atoning sacrifices for 
sin, but as grateful oblations for mercies received and secured, 
Rom. xii. 1. Phil. ii. 17. 2 Tim. iv. 6. Heb. xiii. 15, 16. 1 Pet. 
ii. 5, 9. Hos. xiv. 2. Psalm lxvi. cxvi. ciii. cxlv. cxlvi. 

By this necessary, true, and perfect satisfaction of Je- 
sus Christ, 1. The perfections of God are manifested in the 
brightest and most heart-engaging manner. His infinite wis- 
dom shines in his justly punishing bis infinitely holy Son, that 
guilty sinners might be justified and saved: His unbounded 
majesty and authority, in having a God-man for his bond-ser- 
vant : — his inflexible justice, in his not sparing, but condignly 
punishing his beloved, his only begotten Son, when but charged 
with the sins of men : — his holiness, in his being wroth with, 
and casting off his anointed for our sakes ; — his faithfulness, in 
Jehovah himself assuming the likeness of sinful flesh, serving 
and dying under a curse, rather than one promise or threatening 
should fail : — his astonishing grace, in God himself, whom we 
had offended, becoming man, being made under the law, — obe- 
dient, poor, reproached, reviled, tempted, and tormented in 
both soul and body, — sweating great drops of blood, groaning 
and dying for us sinful worms, his inveterate enemies, Luke ii. 
14. 2 Cor. iv. 6. John xii. 27. xiii. 31. 1 John iv 9, 10. Eph. 
v. 2. 2. The infinite debt of an elect world was fully .paid, and 
unspeakable and everlasting glory purchased for them, — and 
for him as their head, Matt. xx. 28. Rev. v. 9. 1 Thess. v. 10. 
1 Pet. iii. 18. Isa. liii. 4 — 12. Phil ii. 7 — 11. ; and he obtained 
a new right to them, as his redeemed, Tit. ii. 14. Acts xx. 28. 
1 Pet. i. 19. ii. 9. 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. 3. This satisfaction being 



OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 299 

infinitely excellent in itself, fulfilled in a nature common to men, 
and thus equally suited to every man's case, a sufficient founda- 
tion was laid for a general and indefinite invitation of them to 
receive and rest on it, as their justifying righteousness before 
God : — and all of them, according to their degree of connection 
with the elect, receive manifold gifts, offices, or outward accom- 
modations, which otherwise they would not, Isa. h\ 1 — 7. XXXV, 
Matt. xxiv. 22. Eph. iv. 11, 12. ; — though indeed reprobates en- 
joy these things as consequents, rather than as proper fruits of 
the death of Christ with respect to them. 4. A most effectual 
fountain of gospel holiness was opened. The law of God was 
therein manifested in its high and unalterable authority, asto- 
nishing extent, and infinite holiness, goodness, and equity, Isa. 
xlii. 21. ; the horrid nature of sin, as an attempt on the life of 
Jehovah, an actual murder of his Son in our nature, and as a 
crime, which entails everlasting destruction upon all them that 
love it — and which only the blood of God can expiate, Zech. 
xii. 10. John xvi. 9. Heb. x. 29. By this satisfaction applied 
to men's conscience and heart, the broken law and its curse, 
which are the strength of sin, are removed, and inward grace 
conveyed into them, as a permanent vital principle of good 
works, Gal. iii. 13. 1 Cor. xv. 56. — 2 Cor. v. 17, 21. Col. ii. 
13. 1 Pet. i. 2, 3. — In this satisfaction, the most complete and 
engaging pattern of holiness is exhibited, under the most dis- 
advantageous circumstances of poverty, desertion, temptation, 
reproach, persecution, Phil. ii. 5 — 8. Eph. v- 2. Matt. xi. 29: 
1 Pet. ii. 21, 22. Rom. vi. — In it the most powerful motives 
of redeeming love, and its blessed effects are manifested, urged, 
and applied, for animating men to all manner of holiness, Eph. 
v. 2. 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. 1 John iv- 9, 10, 19. Psalm cxvi. 16. 
cxix. 32. Luke i. 74, 75. Heb. xii. 28. 5. Satan and his works 
are effectually ruined, Heb. ii. 14. 1 John iii. 5, 8. Gen. iii. 15. 
Col. ii. 14,15, Dan. ix. 24. 

In respect of its intrinsic worth, as the obedience and suffer- 
ings of a divine person, Christ's satisfaction is sufficient for the 
ransom of all mankind, and being fulfilled in human nature, is 
equally suited to all their necessities. But in respect of his and 
his Father's intention, it was paid and accepted instead of the 
elect, and to purchase their eternal happiness. 1. Christ died 
for those only for whom he undertook, as surety, in the cove- 
nant of grace, in order to obtain their eternal salvation, Heb. 
vii. 22. Isa. liii. 6, 8. 2 Cor. v. 21. 1 Pet. iii. 18. Rom. viii. 3, 
4. x. 4. Tit. ii. 14. Now they are his seed, whom his Father 
loved and gave unto him out of the world, John xvii. 6, 9, 14, 
23. ; whom he shall see in happiness with pleasure, and who 
shall be justified and glory in him, Isa. liii- 10, 11. xlv. 24, 25. ; 
and who shall experience his quickening virtue in their souls, 



300 OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 

bear his image, serve him, and become heavenly men, 1 Cor. 
xv. 45, 49. Psalm xxii. 30, 31. 2. Those men for whom Christ 
died are, in Scripture, represented as many, Matt. xx. 28. xvi. 
xxii. 14. ;— » as his elect, who cannot be condemned, nor separated 
from the love of God, Rom. viii. 32 — 39. ; his church and body, 
Acts xx. 28. Eph. v. 28, 25. ; — his sheep, who shall infallibly 
enjoy eternal life, Johnx. 10, 15, 16, 27 — 29. ; — his people, who 
are sanctified and saved, Heb. xiii. 12. Matt. i. 21. ; — his friends, 
who are reconciled to God, John xv. 13. Rom. v. 10. Col. i. 20, 
21. ; — his children, for whom he prays, John xvii. xi. 52. xvii. 9. 
Isa liii. 10. ; and brings to glory, Heb. ii. 9, 10. j and whom he 
calls brethren, and sanctifies, Heb. ii. 9, 11 — 16. 3. His obe- 
dience and sufferings are never represented as intended for put- 
ting men into any solvable state, — or procuring power and li- 
berty for God, to enter upon lower terms of salvation with them ; 
— but as intended for actually saving them from sin and misery, 
— redeeming them from an evil world, — and bringing them to 
eternal happiness with God, Matt, xviii. 11. Luke xix. 10. 1 Tim. 
i. 15. Matt. i. 21. 1 John iv. 9. Heb. ix. 15, 16. Eph. i. 7. v. 23 
— 27. Tit. ii. 14. Rom. xi. 26. John xvii. 19. x. 10. Gal. iv. 4 
— 6. iii. 13, 14. i. 14. vi. 4. 2 Cor. v. 21. Heb. ii. 9, 10, 14, 15. 

1 Pet. iii. 18. And all these ends are represented as actually 
obtained by them, Heb. i. 3. ix. 12, 14. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19, ii. 24. 
Dan. ix. 24. Gal. iii. 13. Col. i. 20 — 22. Eph. ii. 13 — 16. Acts 
xx. 28. Rom. v. 8 — 11, 16 — 21. vi. 6. viii. 32 — 34. Isa. xlv. 
24, 25. liv. 17. lxi. 10. 2 Cor. v. 15. 1 Cor. i. 30. xi. 10, 11, 19, 
20. Phil. i. 29. Rev. i. 5. 6. v. 9, 10. John vi. 33. x. 15, 28, 29. 

2 Tim. i. 10. ii. 10. Heb. x. 14. 1 Pet. i. 2 — 4. 4. Satisfaction 
to the law and justice of God is of such a nature, that all sup- 
position of God's again demanding any part of it, from any for 
whom Christ obeyed and suffered, chargeth the most shocking 
injustice on God, Isa. liii. 4 — 12. 2 Cor. v- 21. Gal. iii. 13. ; es- 
pecially as he satisfied for all their sins, 1 John i. 7, 9. ii. 7. 
Isa. liii. 6, 4, 5, 8, 10. Lev. xvi. 21. Dan. ix. 24. Eph. i. 2. 
Acts xiii. 38, 39. 1 Pet. ii. 24. ; — so that neither unbelief, nor 
any thing else can condemn a soul united to him, Rom. viii. 1, 
33, 34. 5. The Scripture represents Christ's death not merely 
as a sacrifice to make atonement for sin, but also as a meritori- 
ous price of inestimable benefits, Isa. liii. 5, 10. Acts xx. 28. 
Matt, xx 28. xxvi. 28. And our pardon of sin, reconciliation 
with God, acceptance into his favour, — freedom from the power 
and pollution of sin, sanctification of nature and life, victory 
over devils and death, — resurrection to, and possession of eter- 
nal happiness, are represented as its inseparable attendants and 
just reward, Rom. v. 10. Eph. i. 7. Rom. iii. 24- Heb. ii. 14, 15. 
Rom. vi. 10, 11, 14. Isa. xxv. 8. Rev. v. 9, 10. 1 Thess. v. 10. 
l Pet. iii. 18. A righteous God cannot therefore deprive any 



OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 301 

person, for whom they were purchased, of any of these bene- 
fits, Gen. xviii. 25. Deut. xxxii. 4. 1 John i. 9. Rom. iii. 26. 
6. Christ's satisfaction is represented as equally, or more effec- 
tually justifying and saving those for whom it was made, than 
Adam's disobedience was to condemn them. But this it could 
not be, unless every person for whom it was given were made 
truly righteous in it before God, and to reign eternally in hap- 
piness, even as every person whom Adam represented is made 
a sinner, and heir of death and wrath through his disobedience, 
Rom. v. 12 — 21. 1 Cor. xv. 22. 7. It is manifest that Christ, 
in his intercession, prays only for his elect, John xvii. 9.— Now, 
his intercession, in inspect of its objects, is of the same extent 
with his atonement, 1 John ii. 1, 2. Nor will common sense 
allow, that he would lay down his life for any person for whom 
he would not intercede. 8. The Scripture alway represents the 
death of Christ for, or instead of men, as an astonishing evi- 
dence of his and his Father's love to them, John xv. 13. Eph. 
v. 2. 2 Cor. viii. 9. Gal. ii. 20. Rom. v. 6 — 8. viii. 32. 1 John 
iv. 9, 10, 16, 19. John iii. 16. But it could not be so, if the 
most of those for whom he died were never a whit the better of 
it, nay, never informed of his death, till by means of the 
despisers of him, in hell. 9. The tenet of Christ's dying equally 
for all men, or for any that are not elected and actually saved, 
is pregnant with the most glaring absurdities, viz- That as but 
few of mankind, comparatively taken, are actually saved, God 
hath in a great measure lost his end, in his principal work of 
men's redemption ; — that either, through want of wisdom, he 
hath laid his plan extremely ill, or, through want of wisdom, 
power, or mercy, he is unable to execute it in opposition to the 
corrupt inclinations of men ; — that multitudes of wicked men, 
for whom he put his Son to death, must be much more wise 
and powerful than himself; so that he cannot make them will- 
ing in the day of his power, or keep them through faith unto 
salvation ; — that Christ, to no good purpose, threw away his in- 
finitely precious life for the most of mankind, who are never 
saved ; — that he threw it away for millions who, at that very 
time, were in hell, beyond the reach of all mercy, — for millions 
whom he never informs of it, or of the salvation therebv pur- 
chased, — and never calls to believe on him any more than if 
they were devils, Job xviii. xx. Psalm ix. IT. 2 Pet. ii. 5, 6. 
Jude7. Psalm cxlvii. 19,20. Rom. x. 14 — 17. ; — nay, for mil- 
lions whom he forbade his ministers to call to faith and gos- 
pel-repentance, Matt. x. 5. Acts xvi. 6, 7- ; — and so, who are left 
without all hopes of redemption, Acts iv- 12. Eph. ii. 12. 2 John 

9. Prov- xxix. 18 To pretend that Christ died for men 

upon condition of their truly believing and repenting of their 
sins, which are not only infinitely above, but contrary to their 



302 OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 

corrupted natural powers, is to represent God as insulting the 
misery and weakness of men, — and sporting with the death 
of his Son, in suspending the whole efficacy and good fruits of 
it upon an infinitely improbable, nay impossible condition. 

Objec. 1. " Christ is represented as the Saviour of all men, 
" — and to have died for all. God wills all men to be sav- 
" ed; and all that were condemned and died in Adam, are jus- 
" tiffed and live through Christ, 1 Tim. iv. 10. ii. 4, 6. 2 Cor. 
" v. 14, 15- Heb. ii. 9. 2 Pet. iii. 9. Rom. v. 18, 19. 1 Cor. xy. 
" 22." Answ. 1. The terms all and every, used in Scrip, 
ture, often denote but a great many, — or of all sorts. Hence it 
is said, that all Judea went out to John's baptism, and all 
men held him as a prophet, Matt. iii. 5, 6. xxi. 26. ; — that all 
men came to Jesus, John iii. 26. ; — while it is certain that mul- 
titudes of men, and even of Jews, contemned both John and 
Jesus, Matt. xi. 18, 19. Luke vii. 30. — It is said, that all the 
cattle in the land of Egypt died, when none but such as were 
left in the field died, Exod. ix. 6, 3, 19. ; — that the hail smote 
every herb, and brake every tree, — while many herbs and trees 
remained to be afterwards destroyed by the locusts, Exod, ix. 23. 
x. 15. ; — that all the Israelites gave their ear-rings for making 
the golden calf, when none but such as had gold ear-rings, and 
consented to that idolatry, did so, Exod. xxxii. 3, 26. 1 Cor. x. 
7. ; — that all the people of Judea were carried captive to Ba- 
bylon with Jehoiachin, when no more but his queen, princes, 
warriors, eunuchs, artisans, and a few others, were then carried 
captive, and multitudes afterwards remained under the govern- 
ment of Zedekiah, 2 Kings xxiv. 14, 15. xxv. — that all na- 
tions served Nebuchadnezzar, and his son, and grandson ; that 
the sight of him extended to all the earth ; that all flesh 
was fed by him, when but a few nations within about five or 
six hundred miles of Babylon submitted to, or depended on him, 
Jer. xxvii. T. xxv. 18 — 26. Dan. iv. 11, 12. ; — that all the 
beasts of the nations lodged in the ruins of Nineveh, when no 
more than many of different kinds did so, Zeph. ii. 14. ; — that 
all lands were plagued with famine in the days of Joseph, and 
heard of the fame of David and Solomon ; — that Ahab sought 
for Elijah in all lands, when no more but a few countries adja- 
cent to Egypt and Canaan are meant, Gen. xli. 17. 1 Chron. 
xiv. 17. 1 Kings iv. 31. xviii. 10. ; — that people from every na- 
tion under heaven attended Peter's sermon at Pentecost, when 
none but of about thirteen nations, not far from Judea, were 
present, Acts ii. 5 — 11. ;-- -that the man cured of blindness saw 
every man clearly, when none are meant but such as were near 
to, and looked at by him, Mark viii. 25. ; — that Paul became a 
servant, and all things to all men, when no more than all 
sorts of men, Jews and Gentiles, bond and free, &c and all 



OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 303 

lawful condescensions are meant, 1 Cor. ix. 19 — 22. ; — that the 
flesh of all men is given to the beasts, when none but anti- 
christian men are meant, Rev. xix. 19. Sometimes the sig- 
nification of all and every is limited by the nature or condi- 
tion of the thing which is spoken of. Servants are to obey 
their masters, and children their parents, in all things, i. e. all 
things lawful, Tit. ii. 9. Col. iii. 22, 20. The Lord upholdeth 
all that fall, and raiseth all that are bowed down, i. e. such 
as trust in him, or are upheld and delivered, Psalm cxlv. 14. 
Answerable to those manifold plain limitations of the terms all 
and every, we readily grant that Christ died for many men ; 
that he died for men of all sorts and ranks, high and low, rich 
and poor, bond and free, Jews and Gentiles, — and that he died 
for all that believe on, and are saved by him. But what is that 
to his dying in the room of all men as their Surety and Repre- 
sentative ? 2. Not one text quoted in the Objection proves 
that Christ died in the law-room of all mankind. It is not said 
in 1 Tim. iv. 10. that Christ, but that the living God is the Sa- 
viour of all men, delivering them from manifold troubles and 
dangers. Nay, Christ, not as Surety, but as Administrator of 
the new covenant, is the official Saviour of all men, to whom 
they have all full warrant to apply for eternal salvation, 1 John 
iv. 14. John iv. 42. — In the four next texts all and every 
must be limited agreeably to the context, — to all sorts or ranks 
of men, 1 Tim. ii. 4, 6, 1,2. ; — to the children who are sanctified 
and brought to glory, Heb. ii. 9, 10, 11, 13. ; — to those that are 
made new creatures, and the righteousness of God, 2 Cor. v. 14, 
15, 17, 21. ; — to those that are elect according to the foreknow- 
ledge of God, — that obtain precious faith, and are healed, 2 Pet. 
iii. 9. i. 1. 1 Pet. i. 2. Isa. liii. 6, 5. Rom. viii. 32, 33. More- 
over, it is certain, that though God, by his law, commands all 
devils, as well as men, to be perfectly holy, and if they were 
so, they would be perfectly happy, 1 Pet. ii. 16. Matt. xxii. 
37, 39. yet he never intended to render them all either holy 
or happy. And many men have little more opportunity of 
gospel-repentance or knowledge than devils have, Eph. ii. 12. 
Psalm cxlvii. 19, 20. Prov. xxix. 18.—— -The two last texts in 
the Objection do but prove, that all Christ's spiritual seed, 
whom he represented, shall have justification and life through 
him even as Adam's natural seed, whom he represented, have 
sin and death entailed upon them through him ; and in the 
first the comparison is not so much stated between the objects 
of sin and death, or of righteousness and life, as intended to 
demonstrate that Christ's righteousness hath much more efli- 
cacy to save men, than Adam's sin hath to destroy them, Rom 
v. 18, 19. 1 Cor. xv. 22. 



304 OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 

Object. II. " Christ died for the world, — all the world 7 
" the whole world, John iii. 16, 17. i. 9, 29. iv. 42. vi. 51. 
" 2 Cor. v. 19. 1 John ii. 2. iv. 14." Answ. 1. Most, if not 
all of these texts, might as properly have been produced to 
prove that all men are actually saved. And indeed, if men 
will insist that Christ laid down his life for all men, they 
ought, if they want to be consistent with themselves, to hold 
that not a single soul of mankind is or can be damned, there 
being as good proof from Scripture for the last as for the first ; 
compare Joel ii. 28. John xvi. 9. Psalm xxii. 27. lxxii. 17. 
John xii. 32. Luke xvi. 16. Col. i. 28. 1 Cor. iv. 5. And 
why not also prove from Eph. i. 10. Col. i. 20. that all the 
devils are reconciled to God by the death of Christ ? 2. If the 
word world, all the world, whole world, be taken in its 
utmost latitude of meaning, it must include all devils as well 
as all men. 3. When world in Scripture means persons, it 
sometimes denotes the Roman Empire and its subjects, Acts 
xi. 28. Rom. i. 8. Acts xvii. 6. Luke ii. 1.; or the Gentiles as 
distinguished from the Jews, Rom. xi. 12, 13. ; or even but a 
small part of the Jews, John xii. 19. ; or the wicked men of 
the world, 1 John iv. 4, 5. v. 19. John xv. 18, 19. vii. 7. 
1 Cor. ii. 12. ; or the papists, Rev. xiii. 3, 8, 16. 4. Christ 
is the official Saviour of all men in this world, suited to their 
necessities, and to whom each of them may warrantably ap- 
ply, 1 John iv. 14. 5. In some of the texts mentioned in 
the Objection, world may denote the Gentiles chosen in Christ 
as distinguished from the Jews, John iv. 42. 1 John ii. 2. 
iv. 14. In others it may denote the elect in general, who are 
the substance and better part of the world, Isa. vi. 13. ; and 
who, under the gospel, are chiefly gathered from among the 
Gentiles, — and it is limited by the context, to such as are en- 
lightened and have their sins taken away, John i. 9, 29. ; — are 
loved of God, and not condemned, but saved, John iii. 16, 
17-; — are made partakers of eternal life, John vi. 51, 54.; — 
have their trespasses not imputed to them, but are made the 
righteousness of God in Christ, 1 Cor. v. 19, 21. 

Objec. III. " Christ died for many of those that eter- 
" nally perish, Rom. xiv. 15. 1 Cor. viii. 10, 11. 2 Pet. ii. 1. 
" Heb. x. 29." Answ. The two first-mentioned texts do not 
respect men's everlasting destruction in hell, but their hurt, 
grief, trouble, or stumbling in this life. That of Peter relates 
not to spiritual or eternal redemption, but to deliverance from 
heathen ignorance and idolatry, and bestowing of common 
gifts, as Deut. xxxii. 6. Nor is it certain that Christ is the 
Lord there spoken of, or that he is called by the name despo. 
tes, there used, in all the New Testament. — In Heb. x 29.; 
not the wicked man there spoken of, but Christ himself is 



OP THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 305 

said to be sanctified by tbe blood of the covenant ; compare 

John xvii. 19. Heb. ii. 10. Besides, men may be apparently 

bought or sanctified with Christ's blood, though it had never 
been intentionally shed tor their eternal redemption. 

Oujkc. IV. " If Christ did not die lor all men, none but 
" elect men could be under any obligation to believe the gos- 
" pel. None could be exhorted to believe on him, as they 
" could not be sure that he had died tor them ; nor could 
" they be blamed for their impenitence and unbelief, as they 
" could not know that Christ had died for them, in order to 
u save them." Answ. 1. Men's obligation to believe on Christ, 
as offered in the gospel, is not founded upon any secret in- 
tentions of God, but upon his openly manhested offers of sal- 
vation in the gospel, and his plain command to receive that 
which he offers, Dcut. xxix. 29. Isa- xlv. 22 — 25. lv. 1 — 7. 
Rev. xxii. 17. Matt. xi. 28. John iii. 16, 17. Acts ii. 38, 39. 
iii. 26. xvi. 31. 1 John iii. 23. v. 10 — 12. John vi. 27 — 29. 
2. No man is called, at first hand to believe that Christ, as 
his Surety, intentionally died for him in paiticular ; but is 
called to believe his own unspeakable need of him, his tulness 
and ability to save him ; that God hath, by a deed of gift, 
constituted and offered Christ to sinful men in general, as such, 
and therefore to him in particular, as an all-sufficient Saviour ; 
— that there is an infallible connection between faith and eter- 
nal salvation ; that such as come to Christ believing his gospel 
offers," shall in no wise be cast out ; that the invitations of the 
gospel are directed to him as plainly and particularly as to 
any other, and ought to be credited and embraced without any 
inquiry into the intended extent of Christ's death : and there- 
fore to credit and embrace them accordingly. Nor can elect 

men know any thing of God's kind intentions towards them ; 
but in believing his gracious promises, and feeling his gracious 
influences on their soul, 2 Pet. i. 4, 10. 1 Thess. i. 4, 5. Gal. 
ii. 19, 20. Rom. viii. 28 — 30. 3. The law of nature would 
have prohibited and condemned men for all their sinful impe- 
nitence, though no Saviour had ever been provided. Gos- 
pel hearers will not be condemned for their not believing un- 
truths or uncertainties, but for not believing that which is 
plainly declared and off red in the gospel. 4. If, as our op- 
ponents must grant, heathens be not condemned for not be- 
lieving on Christ, of whom they have not heard, Rom. x 17. 
it must be the revelation of him in the gospel, not his inten- 
tion in dying for all men, that is the immediate ground of our 
faith. 

Objec. V. " Even gospel hearers have not sufficient means 
" of salvation, unless they be certainly informed that Christ 
«' died for them, before they believe in him." Answ, J. 1% 

T t 



306 OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 

is then hoped, that our opponents will no more pretend that 
heathens, who never hear of Christ's death, have sufficient 
means of salvation. 2. Gosptl revelations and ordinances be- 
come unprofitable, not from their insufficiency, but through 
men's neglect or misimprovement ot them. 3. God is no 
more obliged to render the gospel effectual to all them that 
hear it, than to bestow it upon all them that want it. 4. Men 
are and will be condemned, not so properly for what they can- 
not do or attain, as for what they are and do, in approving 
their own want of true holiness, John v. 40. Zech- vii. 11, 12. 

Objec. VI. '« The doctrine of Christ's dying for some, not 
** for all men, reflects mightily upon the love, goodness, and 
" mercy of God, as if, though Christ's death might have 
" equally availed to redeem all mankind, he had bv his inten- 
" tion unkindly limited its efficacy to a jew" Answ. 1. 
Christ's death was not intended in the room of a few, but for 
innumerable multitudes, perhaps thousands of millions of man- 
kind, Rev. vii. 9. xxi. 24. 2. Who dare reply against God, 
who is bound to shew mercy to no sinner, but hath mercy on 
whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth ? 
Exod. xxxiii. 19. Rom. ix. 16—23. 3. God had no more 
reason without himself, to have mercy on all men, than upon 
all devils ; — for not one of whom it can be pretended that 
Christ died, Heb. ii. 16. Jude 6. 4. J[f, notwithstanding 
Christ's dying for them, most or all of mankind may go to 
hell ; most of them never hear of his death for them, nor re- 
ceive the Holy Ghost to make them apply it to themselves, 
where could there be any mercy or love in his so dying for 
them ?— Where could there be either mercy or wisdom in dy- 
ing for them all, on condition that their deceitful and despe- 
rately wicked heart should convert itself, and believe, and re- 
pent ? What distinguished mercy and love could there be in 
his doing no more for them who are saved, than for those who 
are eternally damned — and no more than he did for thousands 
of millions that were in hell at the time of his death, beyond 
all reach of mercy, and many more, who, he foresaw, would 
never be a whit better of his death, as to their spiritual con- 
cerns.- — How infinitely greater the mercy, in his uncondi- 
tional dying for many millions, so as to render their eternal 
salvation absolutely certain ! 

Objec. VII. " The doctrine of Christ's dying uncondition- 
" ally, in the room of some men only, is destructive of all piety 
*' and virtue, — of all prayer and thanksgiving for all men, — 
" and of all solid comfort to awakened consciences. But that 
" of his dying equally for all men, mightily encourages to 
«' these, and all other holy duties : it represents Christ and his 
" Father as infinitely amiable and engaging patterns of bene- 



OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF < 1 1 1:1- I 307 

M volence, — gives inconceivable energy to all the gospel-calls 
" to faith and repentance, — and comforts the most notorious 
" sinners with grounds of hope, if they repent." Axsw. 1. 
The friends of particular redemption are willing to risk a com- 
parison in piety and virtue, in prayer and thanksgiving for all 
men, and in every thing else becoming the gospel, with their 
opponents, whenever they will, if the law of God be allowed 
to be the standard of judgment. 2. Particular redemption re- 
quires prayer to be made for all sorts of men, nay, lor all 
men, living, or that shall live hereafter, unless one were cer- 
tainly known to have committed the unpardonable sin against 
the Holy Ghost, — with submission to the will oi God, 1 Tim. 
ii. 1, 2. 1 John v. 14, 16. Thanksgiving is to be made only 
for what good things men have received, have a right to, or 
ground to hope for. It is infinitely greater ground of thanks- 
giving that thousands of millions are certainly and uncondi- 
tionally redeemed to everlasting life, and shall, without fail, 
enjoy it, than if men by the conditional death of Christ for 
them all, had only an infinitely improbable chance of happiness, 
if their corrupt free will behaved aright. The choicest saint, 
according to our opponents, hath no more certainty of ob- 
taining heaven, than we allow to the most profligate wretch 
that ever lived. Nor have saints in heaven any more ground 
of thanksgiving than the damned in hell, as Christ died equal- 
ly for them all. And the Spirit may have exerted himself 
equally for their welfare. 3. Particular redemption represents 
God as loving men, even his enemies, effectually, and for 
ever ; — a pattern of the most exalted benevolence. But, where 
is his engaging pattern of benevolence, if he only do that for 
us which can avail us nothing, unless we perform the infinite- 
ly impossible condition of self-regeneration and perseverance 
in holiness, by the power of our own carnal mind, which is 
enmity against God ? Besides, the death of Christ being only 
known to a small part of mankind, it cannot be in it, but in 
his common providence, that all men can discern him as a 
universal pattern of benevolence, Matt. v. 45. Psalm cxlv. 9. 
4. If an Arminian preacher would candidly tell his audience, 
" Christ died for all men ; but he and his Father are altoge- 
ther careless, or incapable to gain their end of saving men by 
this means : They seldom inform the hundredth part of man- 
kind of it : The far greater part of those for whom he died, 
are eternally damned : God himself cannot help it, unless 
their free will conduct itself aright. Nay, though with power 
superiour to omnipotence itself, vou should, under the curse of 
God's law, and- under the dominion of your inward enmity 
against him, repent, believe, and long persevere in perfect ho- 
liness, yet a wrong movement of your free will in your last 



308 OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 

moment, may certainly plunge you into everlasting misery." 
What encouraging energy would this add to the calls and pro- 
mises of the gospel ? But the preacher of particular re- 
demption, upon God's authority assures his audience, " That 
Jesus Christ and all his full and everlasting salvation are free- 
ly and earnestly offered by God to them : that, in their earnestly 
attempting to believe, they may expect that he will grant them 
true faith as his free gift, by the very first act of which, how- 
ever weak, they will be irrevocably interested in him and his 
eternal salvation," Isa. xlv. 22, 17, 24, 25. 5. It can be small 
comfort to troubled souls to hear, " That Christ ditd no 
otherwise for them, than for Judas and millions who were in 
hell before his death : and that they must certainly be damn- 
ed, unless their own wicked heart convert itself, and perse- 
vere in true holiness and virtue till their death." But by the 
full and free offers of Jesus Christ and his salvation, which 
includes regeneration and faith, — true comfort and relief are 
administered, Isa. lv. 1—7. i. 18. xlv. 22. xlvi. 12, 13. Prov. 
i. 22, 23. ix. 4, 5. xxiii. 26. Matt. xi. 28. John vi. 37, 44, 
45, 63. vii. 37, 38. 2 Cor. v. 19, 20. Heb. vii. 25. Rom. viii. 
1, 2, 32—39. 

Christ's Intercession, the other part of his priestly work, 
doth not properly include his human sympathy towards his 
countrymen, Lukexix. 41, 42.; nor perhaps in part, his prayer 
for his murd rers, Luke xxiii. 34. — It is represented as an ask- 
ing, praying, pleading as an advocate, and offering up incense 
for us, Psalm ii. 8. John xiv. 16. xvii. 9- Heb. ix. 24. vii. 25. 
Rom. viii. 34. 1 John ii. 1. Rev. viii. 3, 4. He doth not ask 
any thing for himself, but as it tends to his people's advantage, 
John xvii. lie : m._rcecL-s for his ekct only, John xvii. 9. 
1 John ii. 1 Rev. viii. 3, 4. ; and for each of them and all their 
cases, John xvii. 9 — 24. Heb: vii. 25. Luke xxii. 31, 32. Kev. 
vi'i. 3, 4. — The accusations of Satan, Rev. xii- 10. Zech. iii. 1. ; 
•—the multitude of our sins ard wants, 1 (ohn ii. 1. ; — and our 
own unworthiness and unfitness for immediate appearance be- 
fore God, or to order our cause before him, render Christ's in- 
tercession absolutely necessary. — Its being represented as a plead- 
ing in the sanctuary, Heb. ix. 24, 25. — as an offering of incense 
on the p- ol-'en a'tar, Rev. viii. 3, 4-; and a pleading upon his 
propitiatory sacrifice, 1 John ii. 1, 2. ; prove that it belongs to 
his priesthood — Nor is his Godhead any more inconsistent with 
his intercession, than it is with his offering himself in sacri- 
fice, — or thin his manhood is with his high rovalty. — Nay, be- 
fore he assumed his manhood, he, though not in his present 
manner, interceded for his people, Zech. i. 12. ; and perhaps Job 



OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST- 309 

xxxiii. 24. — In his complete person, God-man, he will continue 
to intercede lor ever, Psalm ex. 4. Heb. vii. 24, 25. 

Christ's intercession, in its present form, consists in, 1. His 
presenting himself before God, in our nature, and in the me- 
rit of his finished atonement, as the ground of his bestowing 
upon elect men all the blessings which they need, according to 
the covenant of grate, Heb. ix. 24. 2 Lis intimation of his 
will in thought, n not sometimes in w< rcls, that his pun hcv d 
blessings may be applied to them according to their need and 
the new covenant-settlement, John xvii. Luke xxii. 31, 32. 
Zech. i. 12. Rev. viii. 3, 4. 3. His answering all accusations 
laid against them by Satan, the woiid, or their own conscience, 
-—refuting that v\ hich is false, and pleading forgiveness of every 
thing justly charged, on account of his own completed atone- 
ment, 1 John 1, 2. Zech. iii. 1 — 3. 4. His presenting all their 
worship and service performed in faith to God, and ren- 
dering it acceptable through his own righteousness, Rev. viii. 
3, 4. 1 Pet. ii. 5. 

The dignity of Christ's person, the merit of his sacrifice, and 
the wisdom and fervour of his requests, rendering them tth ay 
prevalent, John xi. 42. xvii. 24. Horn. viii. 34. Heb. vii. 25. 
they procure for his elect every blessing of the new covenant, 
in its proper order and tin e ; — for the unconverted, the gift of 
the Spirit, regeneration, justification, adoption, John x. 16. 
xvii. 20. Psalm ii. 8. : — for believers' growth and perseverance 
in grace, peace of conscience , and access with boldness to God's 
throne of grace, and at last eternal glerv, — notwithstanding 
their daily failings, 1 John ii. 1. John xiv. 13, 14. xvii. 17. 
Heb. iv. 16. vi. 19, 20. John xvii. 24. — And, by his interces- 
sion, he effectually counteracts Satnn and all his instruments, 
Luke xxii. 81, 32. Zech. iii. 1 — 3. i. 12. 

III. Besides that natural supremacy and dominion over all 
things equally with his Father and the Holy Ghost, — Christ 
hath also a mediatorial dominion, or kingdom, which, 1. Was 
given him by his Father as the reward of his offering himself in 
sacrifice, Psalm ii. 8. Matt, xxviii. 18. Phil, ii 6 — 11. Isa. liii. 
10— 1 2. Hi. 13, 14. 1 Pet. i. 21. Luke xxii. 29. Dan. vii. 14. 

2. Belongs to him as God-man, Isa. ix. 6, 7. John v. 22 — 27. 

3. Which chiefly respects his church, and is administered for 
promoting the eternal salvation of her true members, Eph. iv. 

11 — 14. 1. Multitudes of scriptures ascribe lordship and 

dominion to him, Gen. xlix. 10. 1 Sam. ii. 10. 2 Sam. vii. 16. 
Psalm ii. xxi. xlv. lxxii. lxxxix. xcvi. — c. ex. exxxii. xlvii. 
cxlv — cxlix. xxii. 27 — 31. lxviii. 17 — 35. xxiv. 7 — 10. cxviii. 
22. Isa. ix. 6, 7. xi. 4, 5. xxxii. 1, 2. Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. xxxiii. 
15, 16. xxx. 21. Ezek. xvii. 22, 23. xxi. 26, 27. xxxiv. 23, 
24, 29. xxxvii. 24, 25. xliii. 3. xlvi. 10. Dan. ii. 44, 45. vii. 



310 OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 

13, 14. ix. 25. xii. 1. Hos. iii. 5. xiii. 9, 10. Mic. v. 1 — 6. ii. 
13. Zech. vi. 9 — 13. ix. 9, 10. Matt. ii. 2. xxv. 34, 41. xxviii. 
18. John i. 49. xviii. 36, 37. 1 Tim. i. 17. And, even on his 
cross, his kingly power was marked in three different languages, 

John xix. 19. 2. Many kingiy titles are ascribed to him, — 

as a made Lord, Acts ii. 36. 1 Cor. viii. 6. Eph. iv. 5. ; Prince 
of life, Acts iii. 15. ; King of saints, King of kings, and Lord of 
lords, rlev. xv. 3. xvii.. 14. xix. 16.; Head of the church, Eph. 
iv. 15, 16. v. 23. i. 22. Hos. i. 11. Col. i. 18. ii. 19. ; the Foun- 
dation, 1 Cor. iii. 11. Isa. xxviii. 16. Eph. ii. 20 — 22. ; chief cor- 
ner Stone, Psalm cxviii. 22. Zech. x. 4. Eph. ii. 20. ; Ruler, 
Judge, Leader, Commander, 2 Sam. xxiii. 3. Mic. v. 1, 2. Isa. 
xxxiii. 22. Iv. 4. ; Captain of the Lord's host, and of salvation, 
Josh. v. 13. Heb. ii. 10.; Shepherd, Ezek. xxxiv. 23. Isa. xl. 
11, 12. 1 Pet. ii. 25. v. 4. Heb. xiii. 20. 3. Many symbols of 
kingly power are attributed to him, — as royal unction, Psalm 
xlv. 7. ii. 1 — 3. lxxxix. 19, 20. ; — royal inauguration commenced 
in God's eternal purpose, Psalm ii. 6 — 9. ; intimated by angels 
at his conception and birth, Luke i. 31 — 33. ii. 10, 11. ; and ac- 
knowledged by himself and others at his death, John xviii. 
33 — 37. xix. 12 — 19. Matt. xxvi. 64. Luke xxiii. 42, 43. ; — so- 
lemn investiture with royalty in his resurrection, ascension, and 
sitting down at his Father's right hand, Matt, xxviii. 18. Acts 
ii. 36. 1 Pet. iii. 22. Eph. i. 20---22. Phil. ii. 9—11. ;— royal 
coronation by his enemies, Matt, xxvii. 29. John xix. 2, 3. ; by 
his church, Song iii. 11,; and by his Father, Heb. ii. 9. Phil. 
ii. 9 — 11. Psalm xxi. 3. ;— a royal throne, Psalm ex. 1, 5. xlv- 
6. Heb. i. 5. viii. 1. Rev. iii. 21. Mat. xix. 28. xxvi. 64. ; a 
royal sceptre, by which he gathers and governs his people, Heb. 
i. 8. Psalrn xlv. 6. ex. 2. ; and destroys his implacable enemies, 
Psalm ii. 9. Rev. ii. 27. xix. 15. ; royal laws, Isa. ii. 3. Rom. iii. 
27. 1 Cor. ix. 21. Matt. xi. 29, 30. Gal. vi. 2. Prov. viii. 15. ;— 
royal servants or ambassadors, 2 Cor- v. 20. iii. 6. 1 Cor. iv. 
1, 2 ;— royal guards or attendants, Zech. xiv. 5. Hab. iii. 3—7. 
Deut. xxxiii. 2. Jude 14. Matt, i v. 11. xxvi. 53. Dan. vii. 10. 
Psalm lxviii. 17. xlvii. 5, 6. Matt. xiii. 41,49. xxv. 31. ; royal 
revenues, Psalm xcvi. 8. xlv. 11.;. —royal magazines of spiritual 
armour, Eph. vi. 10—19.: — royal power to judge, acquit, or 
condemn, John v. 22. Mark ii. 5 — 11. Matt. xxv. 31—46. 
4. He was prefigured in his kingly office by Melchizedek, king 
of Salem, Heb. vii. 1 — 24. ; Moses, king in Jeshurun, Heb. iii. 
Joshua the conqueror of Canaan, David and Solomon, kings of 
Israel, and by all the kings of Judah, Jer. xxx. 9, 20. Song 
iii. 6—11. Matt. xii. 42- 

Christ's mediatorial kingdom is, I. Very extensive, reaching 
to all creatures, either as conquered enemies, ministers, and in- 
struments of government, or faithful subjects, Matt, xxviii. 18. 
Acts x. 36. Psalm ex. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6. viii. 6—8. Heb. i. 14. Eph. 



OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 311 

iv. 11, 12. 1 Cor. vi. 11. Tit. iii. 5. — 7. Eph. v. 25 — 27, 30.; 
to persons of all ages, nations, and conditions, Psalm ii. 8. lxxiii. 
10 — 14. xxii. 27, 28. Gal. iii. 28. Col. iii. 11. j and to both 
body and soul, Phil. ii. 10, 11. — But, though Christ, as Media- 
tor, bath power to influence the management of all things in 
bcaven and earth for the benefit of his church, Eph- i. 22. 
John xvii. 2. Matt, xxviii. 18. Prov. viii. 15, 16. 2 Sam. viii. 

15. he is not, as Mediator, the moral governour of men, who are 
without his visible church. 1. The Scripture never represents 
him as mediatorial moral governour of heathens, but as King of 
Zion, Zech. ix. 9. Psalm ii. 6. ; of the house of Jacob, Luke i. 
33. ; of his own house, Heb- iii. 6. His kingdom can have mul- 
titudes added to it, Psalm ex. 2, 3. Rev. xi. 15. Obad. 21. 
Men are not naturally members of his kingdom, but graciously 
brought into it, Col i. 13. 2. We find no mediatorial laws 
without his church, Rom. ii. 14. Eph. ii. 12. Isa. ii. 3. ; nor 
any proclamations of his mediatorial authority, Isa. lxiii. 19. 
Psalm cxlvii. 19, 20. 3. Christ being alway undivided, he can- 
not be the mediatorial governor of Heathen's morals, till he be 
first their mediatorial prophet or teacher, Psalm cxlvii. 19, 20. 
Eph. ii. 12. Actsxiv. 16. xvii. 30. 4. Christ cannot be the me- 
diatorial moral governour of Heathens without their being under a 
dispensation of the covenant of grace, and having the means of 
their eternal salvation, which it is certain they have not, Eph.. 
ii. 12. Prov. xxix. 18. 2 John 9. II. Christ's mediatorial 
kingdom is cf a spiritual nature, Luke xvii. 20, 21. John 
xviii. 36. And hence» in its New Testament form, it is called 
the kingdom of heaven, or of God, to mark that its original, 
form, administration, privileges, and tendency are heavenly and 
divine, Matt. iii. 2. iv. 17. xxii. xxv. 1. In its more glorious 
form, it began when the temporal dominion was departed from 
the tribe of Judahand the family of David, Gen- xlix. 10. Dan. 
ix. 24 — 27. 2. It was typified by the temporal government of the 
Jews, and therefore must be of a more excellent, a spiritual na- 
ture, Heb. xi. 40. x. I. ix. 10, 11. 3. Every thing pertaining 
to the kingdom is spiritual. The king is meek and lowly, — a 
root out of a dry ground, that came not to be ministered unto, 
but to minister, — a servant of rulers, who avoided every ap- 
pearance of temporal dominion, Zech. ix. 9. Isa. xi. 5. liii. 2. 
xlix. 7. Matt. xx. 28. John vi. 13. Lukexii. 13, 14.; and is a 
quickening Spirit, 1 Cor. xv. 45. His throne at his Father's 
right hand, and in the hearts of his people, is spiritual, Psalm 
ex. 1. Heb. i. 3. Rev. iii. 21. Eph. iii. 17. Col. i. 27. His 
sceptre is his spiritual word, made the power of God to men's 
salvation or destruction, Isa. ii. 3. liii. 1. Psalm ex. 2. Rom. i. 

16. John vi. 63. Heb. iv. 12. 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. Psalm xlv. 4, 5. 
ii. 9. 2 Cor. ii. 16. Hos. vi. 5. Rev. ii. 12, 16. xix. 15,21. His 



312 OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 

laws are spiritual, Rom. iii. 27. viii. 2. vii. 12, 14. The wor- 
ship and homage; paid him are spiritual, John iv. 24. Rom. xii. 
1. 1 Pet. ii. 8, 9. Phil. iii. 3. His true subjects are spiritual 
men, a willing people, renewed in the spirrt of their minds, 
born from above, not of the will of the flesh, but of the will of 
God by his Spirit, 1 Cor. ii. 15. Psalm ex. 2. Rom. xii. 2. Eph. 
iv. 23. John i. 13. iii. 5, 6- James i. 18. 1 Pet. i. 2, 23- ii. 5. 
Gal. iv. 19. ; and their dwelling and conversation are heavenly 
and spiritual, Eph. ii. 6. Phil. ni. 20. Col. iii. 1, 2. His man- 
ner of government is spiritual, Zech. iv. 6. His ministers, prin- 
cipal enemies, armour, warfare, and principal punishments and 
rewards, are spiritual, 1 Pet. iii. 2~. Heb. i. 14. Psalm ciii. 19, 
20,21. Eph. iv. 11, 12. vi. 10 — 20. 2 Cor. x. 3 — 5. John xiv. 
27. xvi. 33. Rom. xiv. 17. 2 Cor. iv. 18. 2 Thess. i. 6 — 10. 
4. His ends of erecting his kingdom are spiritual, i. e. to de- 
stroy the works, power, and kingdom oi the devil, 1 John iii. 5, 
8. Col. ii. 13. ; and to glorify God in the eternal salvation of 
men, Gen. xlix. 10. Psalm lxxii. 17. Isa. xiv. 17. Eph. i. 3. 
1 Pet. iv. 11. Luke xii. 14. Eph. iii. 2i. — It is only in allusion 
to the Jewish state, and in condescension to men's weakness, 
that this spiritual kingdom is often represented by the prophets 
in figures drawn from a temporal kingdom, Deut. xxx. 4, 5. 
Ezek. xxxiv. xxxvii. Dan. vii. 27. Mic, iv. 6 — 8. Psalm ii. 
lxxii. xxi. xiv. III. It is everlasting. Christ was appointed 
to it from all eternity, Psalm ii. 6 — 8. Prov. viii. 23. Mic. v. 2. 
He began to execute his kingly office immediately after the fall, 
Gen. iii. 8—19. He executed it all along under the Old Tes- 
tament, in taking Adam, Noah, Abraham, and their families, 
into a church state, Gen. iii. 24. iv. 3, 4. ix. xii. — xxviii. — in 
prescribing laws to the Hebrews in the wiidt;rneas, Exod. xv. 
to Deut. xxxi. — in appointing the form £.:d o; j rvice of Solo- 
mon's temple, 1 Chron. xvii. xxii. — xxvi. i Kings v. — ix. In 
his incarnation, he was born a king, Matt. ii. 2. He was ac- 
knowledged as such by the wise men, Matt. ii. 1,2, II.; by 
Nathaniel, John i 49. ; and by the Svroph;. ician woman, Matt 
xv. 22. ; by blind men, Matt. ix. 27. xx. 30, 31. ; by mariners, 
Matt. viii. 27. ; by the crucified thief. Lake xxui. +2. ; by Piiate, 
John xix. 19.; by angels, Luke i. 31 — 33. ii. iO, 1 1. : and by 
his Father, Matt. xvii. 5. I.i his stat^ of humiliation, he acted 
as King of his church, in instituting ordinances, appoint. ng of- 
ficers, and issuing forth commandments in his cvn name, Matt. 
x. xvi. 18, 19. xviii. 15 — 2o. xxvi. 26 — 28. v. — vii. Luke vi. x. 
— in dislodging devils, Matt. iv. £5. xii. 28, &c ; in repeatedly 
purging the Jewish temple from buyers and sellers, John ii. 
13 — 17. Matt. xxi. 12, 13.; — in triumphantly riding to Jerusa- 
lem on an ass, Matt., xxi. John xii. Zech. ix. 9.; in conquering 
and triumphing over his enemies on the cross, Col- ii. 14, 15. 



OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 313 

Gen. iii. 15. — 'In, and after his resurrection, he was more so- 
lemnly invested with royal power, Matt, xxviii. 18. — 20. Phil, 
ii. 8 — 11. Acts v. 31. ii. 36. 1 ret. i. 2 I. iii. 18, 21, 22. Eph. 
i. 20 — 23. Psalm xlvii. 5, 6, 7. xxiv 7. — 10. lxviii. 18. ex. 
1 — 7. — In his exalted state of royalty, he appointed the form 
and laws of his New Testament church, John xx. 21, 2'2. Matt, 
xxviii. 18 — 20. Acts i. 3, 4, 8. Mark xvi. 15 — 18. 1 Cor. xii. 
28, 29. xi. 23 — 29. Eph. iv. 11, 12. ; he hath and shall govern 
her to the end of the world, Matt, xxviii. 20. Psalm lxxxix. 37- 
2 Sam. \ ii. 13. Isa. ix. 7. 1 Cor. xi. 23, 26. At the last day, 
he will judge the world ; and thereafter continue his reign 
through all eternity, Psalm 1. 2. — 6. Matt. xxv. 31 — 46. Rev. 
xx. 11 — 15. Psalm xlv. 6, 7- lxxxix. 37. 2 Sam, vii. 13. Dan. 

ii. 44. vii. 14, 27. Luke i. 33. Isa. ix. 7. 1 Thess. iv. 17. 

At the end of the world he will account to his Father for his 
management in time, present all his redeemed, perfect in holi- 
ness and happiness, and change his present form of government, 
1 Cor. xv. 24 — 28. ; but will for ever retain his kingly power. 
His enemies, being then all conquered, and under his feet, will 
not be able to dethrone him, John xvi. 33. Col. ii. 15. Heb. ii. 
18. Isa xxv. 8. Psalm ex. 5, 6. 1 Cor. xv. 25. His subjects 
will not seek to dethrone' him, Isa. liv. 9, 10. lxi. 10. xxvi, 2. 
Jer. xxxii. 39, 4o. Nor will his Father attempt it, Psalm xlv. 
6. Heb. i. 8. Psalm lxxxix. 3, 4, 28. Nor would it be for the 
honour of God or the benefit of his people, that he should be 
deprived of his peculiar honours of reward, while they enjoy 
the glories which he purchased. 

Christ's mediatorial kingdom may be distinguished into, 
1. His kingdom of power, in which he hath the disposal of all 
things in heaven and earth, for the good of his church, Matt, 
xxviii. i8. xi. 27. John iii. 35. v. 22. Eph. i. 20 — 22. Phil. ii. 
9 — 11. 1 Pet. iii. 22. 1 Cor. xv 25. — David's headship over the 
heathen nations which he conquered, was typical of this, 2 Sam. 
viii. 14. xxii. 44. Psalm xviii. 43, 44. 2. His kingdom of grace, 
— the external form of which consists in men's conjunct pro- 
fession, worship, and service of God in Christ, by means of 
officers, and ordinances of his own appointment. In respect of 
this, men often but feign subjection to him, and shall be cast 
outi, Psalm xviii. 44. Matt. viii. 12. xiii. 47. xxi. 43. The in- 
ternal form of it consists in the spiritual subordination of true 
believers to Christ as their Husband, Saviour, and Lord, — and 
in righteousness, peace and jov in the Holy Ghost, Luke xvii. 
20, 21, Isa. xliv. 3—5 xlv. 23. Rom. xiv. 17. Phil. iii. 3. Tit. 
ii. 14. 3. His kingdom of glory, which is also called the king- 
dom of the Father, because he gives it to redeemed men, and 
reigns in it in a more immediate manner, ordinances and church- 
officers being laid aside, and the subjection of Christ, as man 

U u 



314 OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 

and Mediator, to him, more fully manifested, Matt. xxv. 34. 
xiii. 43. 1 Cor. xv. 28. 

Christ manages his kingdom of power, 1. In appointing or 
making angels, men, and every other creature, to work toge- 
ther for the good of his church, especially her true members, in 
their militant state, Heb. i. 14. Psalm xxxiv. 7. lxxviii. 49. Rom. 
viii. 28. 1 Pet. iii. 13. 2. In permitting evil angels and their 
instruments to tempt and persecute his professed subjects, 2 Cor. 
xii. 7. Eph. vi. 12. 1 Thess. ii. 18. Rev. ii. 10. xii. xiii. xx. 7 — 
9. 3. In restraining and bounding their rage and hatred, in re- 
spect of its fervour, duration, or effects, Rev. ii. 10. xii. 10, 12. 
xx. 1 — 3. Psalm lxxvi. 10. 4. In making all their temptations, 
and the harass ments of his people, turn out to his glory and 
their good, Psalm lxxvi. 10. Rom. viii. 28. 2 Cor. i r ~. 17. Psalm 
cxix. 67, 71,65. Heb. xii. 10, 11. Phil. i. 12— 14. 1 Cor. xi. 
19. Mic. vii. 9, 14. Isa. xxvii. 9. 5. In judging and punishing 
all his and his people's enemies, Psalm ii. 9. xxi. 8 — 12. xlv. 5. 
lxxii. 9. ex. 1, 5, 6. 2 Cor. xv. 25. ; — particularly his Jewish 
opposers, Matt, xxi v. 29 — 51. xxi 44 xxii. 7. ; the persecuting 
heathens of the Roman empire, Rev. vi. 12 — 17. ; the Antichris- 
tian papists, Rev. ix. xi. xiii. xiv. — xix. 2 Thess. ii. 8. ; and all 
wicked angels and men at the last day, 2 Thess. i. 8, 9. Rev 
xiv. 11.. xx. 12 — 15. Matt. xxv. 31 — 46. 6. In rewarding those 
that had been friendly to his people and interests, as in making 
most honourable use of angels at the last day, Matt. xxv. 31. 
Jude 14. 2 Thess. i. 7. ; and in gloriously renewing this lower 
world, Rom. viii. 21. 2 Pet. iii. 13. 

Christ manages his kingdom of grace in its external form, 
1. In appointing many different ordinances of worship, common 
or more solemn, for erecting or preserving his church in her in- 
fant or adult state, Gen. iv. 4, 5. xvii. 10—14. Exod. xii. — xl. 
Lev. i. — xxvii. Num. iii. — vi. xv. xvii.-; — xix. xxviii. xxix. Deut. 
iv. — xxxii. Matt. v. — vii. x. xvi. 18, 19. xviii. 15 — 20. xxviii. 
19, 20. Mark xvi. 15 — 18. 1 Cor. xi. 23 — 29. xiv. 1 Tim. ii — 
vi. Tit. i. — iii. 2. In instituting offices, qualifying and sending 
ordinary and extraordinary officers, for erecting and maintain- 
ing his church, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 15. Heb. i. 1. Eph. iv. 11 — 14. 
1 Cor. xii. 3. In giving his Spirit, that, by his ordinary and 
extraordinary influences, accompanying the proclamation of his 
truth, he may attest his officers and doctrines, gather and pre- 
serve his subjects, and make them observe his ordinances and 
laws, Isa. xxxii. 15. — 18. xliv. 3 — 5. lix. 21. Joel ii. 28, 29. 
John xvi. 7—14. xv. 26, 27- xiv. 16, 17, 26. vii. 37—39. iii. 5, 
6, 8. xx. 22. Ezek. xxxvi. 27. Prov. i. 23. Acts i. 5, 8. ii. 1 — 
47. iv. 31. Heb. ii. t. 1 Thess. i. 5. 1 John ii, <20. 27. 4. In 
providentially protecting his church from being ruined by erro- 



OF THE PARTICULAR OFFICES OF CHRIST. 315 

neous teachers or naughty professors within her, or by open 
persecutors without her, Zech. ii. 5. Isa. lxiii. 9. Rev. vi. vii. 
xi. xii. xiv. 1—5. 5. In enlarging his church at the expense 
of her Jewish, Heathen, or Antichristian enemies, Psalm ex. 
2, 5, 6. Dan. ii. 44. Rev. xii. 10. xi. 15. Isa. xlix. liv. lx. Mic. 

iv. v. Zech. viii. — xiv. ii. 11. He manages it in its internal 

form, 1. In effectually calling his elect, and by changing their 
state and nature, bringing them to himself, thus rescuing them 
from their slavery to the broken law, sin, Satan, the world, and 
death, Psalm ex. 3. xxii. 27 — 31. Isa. xxvii. 12, 13. xliv. 3 — 5. 
xiv. 24, 25. xlix. 25, 26. Rom. viii. 2. vi. 14. vii. 4. John iii. 
5, 6, 8. v. 25. viii. 32, 36. 1 Cor. vi. 11. Tit. iii. 3—7. Col. i. 
13. 1 Pet. i. 2, 3. 2. In ruling them by his word published to 
them in the gospel, and written in their hearts by his Spirit, as 
their enlightener, directer, quickener, and comforter ; — and in 
subordination hereto, by his providence correcting them for 
their disobedience, or pardoning it, on their renewed actings 
of faith and repentance, Psalm cxlvii. 19. cxix. 11, 18. John 
xiv. 16, 17, 26. xv. 26. xvi. 13 — 15. Gal. vi. 8. v. 18, 22, 23. 
Eph. v. 9. Psalm lxxxix. 30 — 35. xciv. 12. 1 Pet. i. 6, 7. Mic. 
vii. 14, 18, 19. Psalm cxix. 67, 71. xcix. 8. Isa. xxxviii. 16. 
xliv. 22. lvii. 17—19. Hos. ii. 6, 7, 14. Jer. xxxi. 18—27. Heb. 
xii. 5 — 11. Rev. iii. 19. 3- In protecting them from the hurt- 
ful and re-enslaving influence of the broken covenant of works, 
and of sin, Satan, the world, or death, Col. iii. 3. Jude 1. 1 Pet. 
i. 5. John x. 28, 29. Psalm xii. Isa. xlvi. 4. lxiii. 9. xxv. 8. 
Hos. xiii. 14. Heb. ii. 15. Psalm xxiii. 4. 

Christ manages his kingdom of glory, 1. In giving all his 
true subjects on earth, a full and irrevocable title to it, and 
some foretastes of its happiness, 2 Cor. v. 1 — 7. xii. 1 — 6. 

1 Pet. iv. 14. i. 8. 2. In preparing heaven for them against 
%he appointed moment of their death, as well as them for it, 
John xiv. 2. 3. In readily admitting their departed souls into 
the heavenly mansions, Acts vii. 59. Luke xxiii. 43.ii. 29. 

2 Pet. i. 11. Rev. iii. 21. xiv. 13. Isa. lvii. 2. Phil. i. 21, 
23. 4. In raising the dead, publickly and solemnly judging the 
world at the last day, John v. 28, 29. Dan. xii. 2. Rev. xx. 11, 
12. Matt. xxv. 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. Tit. ii. 13. 5. In then putting 
down all temporary power and authority, which had been used 
in church or state, that every thing may be under the more im 
mediate government of God, 1 Cor. xv. 24, 28. • 6. In solemnly 
presenting all his redeemed subjects in one body to his Father, 
perfect in holiness and happiness, 1 Cor. xv. 24. Heb. ii. 10, 13. 
7. In perpetually governing and blessing his saints in their 
heavenly state with the full and immediate enjoyment of God, 
1 Thess. iv. 17. Isa. lx. 19,2a 1 Cor. xv. 28. 



316 OF CHRIST'S STATE OF HUMILIATION. 

ReE lect. Thrice happy they, in and for whom Jesus Christ 
executes these offices ! — Happy they, whom he teaches the in- 
finitely marvellous, pleasant, powerful, and profitable truths of 
God, in a manner that enlightens, draws, renews, ravishes, and 
sanctifies their heart ! — Happy they, who, being chargeable 
with guilt, sinful pollutiou, impotence, and unskilfulness in 
prayer, have this sin-expiating, this ever-effectually interceding 
High Priest between God and them ! — How boldly they may 
come to his throne of grace, — flow together to his goodness, 
and sing in the heights of Zion, while their soul is like a watered 
garden, whose springs fail not !• — Happy his subjects, who is 
love itself, whose laws are holv, just, and good, — a perfect law 
of liberty, and whose whole administration is wisdom, righte- 
ousness, condescension, and kindness. — Let me never presume 
to teach others, till Jesus Christ teach me himself. .Let me not 
dare to touch holy things, till Jesus have washed me in his 
blood, clothed me with his righteousness, and made me an effec- 
tual sharer in the virtue of his intercession. — Let me not dare 
to commence ambassadour for Christ, till he hath subdued my 
inwaid enmity against him, and given me a manifest commis- 
sion — God forbid, that my ministerial labours should but 
amount to a stabbing of my Redeemer in all his offices, under 
the fifth rib; — that I should be a Judas, — by my legal and 
lifeless sermons, or unedifying practice, betraying him into the 
hands of sinners to be crucified. 



CHAP. III. 

Of Christ's States of Humiliation and Exaltation. 

CHRIST'S Person, God-man, is manifested, and his offices 
are executed, in his two states of Humiliation and Exalta- 
tion. It behoved him to pass through the former into the 
latter. In the first he fulfilled his meritorious service, and in 
the last he receives his glorious reward, Luke xxiv. 26. Phil. ii. 
6 — 11. Psalm Xxii. Isa. liii. His mere possession of manhood 
implies infinite condescension, but is not properly a part of his 
humiliation, as he still retains it in his glorified state, Acts hi. 
21- vii. 56. Rev. i. 7, 18. But he was humbled in taking flesh 
of a sinful and mean stock, and in the low and afflicting circum- 
stances of his conception, birth, life, death and burial, Phil. ii. 
6 — 8. Isa> liii. 2 — 12. Psalm xxii. Ixix. Matt. xii. 40. Matt, 
i. to John xix. 

In these several steps of his humiliation, it may in general be 
observed, that he was made under the law as our Surety, and 



OF CHMST'S STATE OF 111 M!I [ATION. .117 

had all its demands required from him, without the lenst pity 
or abatement, Gal. iv. 4. Matt. iii. 15. v. 17. Luke xxiv. 26. 
— From all eternity he had engaged himself for our debt ; but 
while he remained merely God, the law could not fix upon him 
to demand its due. But he no sooner began to assume our 
nature, than it took fast hold of him, and made his very con- 
ception in the form of a bond-servant, and in the likeness of 
sinful flesh, Phil. ii. 7. Rom. viii. 3. He was made under tin 
judicial law, and hence early enrolled a descendant of David. 
He was made under the ceremonial Yaw, and hence was early cir- 
cumcised, and presented at the temple, and afterwards attended 
the sacred festivals, and required the lepers, whom he healed, 
to perform their ceremonial purifications, Luke ii. Matt. viii. 
4 Luke xvii. 14. But he was more properly ar.d immediately 
placed under the moral laiv, as a broken covenant of works : Under 
this, all his elect, whom he came to redeem, are by nature, Rom 
iii. 10 — "20. ; and from this they are redeemed by his fulfilment 
of it in their stead, Rom. viii. 2 — 4. x. 4. \ ii. 4. vi. 14. Gal. iv. 
4, 5. And he was under the judicial and ceremonial laws, onlv 
as they were grafted into this moral law. 1. The Most High 
God, the great Lawgiver, the Lord of all, was made under 
the commands of this broken law, requiring him to perform 
perfect, personal, and perpetual obedience, under the infinite 
weight of its curse, Matt. v. 17, 18. iii. 15. Heb. v. 8. John 
viii. 29. Isa. xlii. 21. Dan. ix. 24. 2. The infinitely happv God, 
blessed for ever, was made under the curse of this broken law, 
which the transgressors represented by him had incurred, Gal. 
iii. 1 3. This curse, 1. Laid him under the power of legal death, 
and retained him under it from the moment of his conception 
till he had finished his humbled service, and was justified in his 
resurrection. 2. It shut him up to undergo the wrath of God, 
in every thing about him, which it could affect, and from every 
quarter, and agency of every kind. 

He underwent the execution of this curse, in, 1. Kis soul. 
Isa. liii. 10. It was often tempted, Matt. iv. 1 — 11. John xiv. 
30. Heb. ii. 17, 18. iv. 15. ; — was grieved with the reproaches 
cast on himself, and with the sins and miseries of others. 
Psalm lxix. 19, 20. xxii. 6,7. Heb. xii. 3. Mark iii. 5, 21. 
Matt. xi. 19. xii. 24. xxvi. 59 — 74. xxvii. 29, 39 — 49. John 
viii. 48, 52. Luke xix. 41, 42. John xi. 35. ; — and burdened and 
tormented with the hidings of his Father's face, and the fears 
and impressions of his wrath, Matt, xxvii. 46. xxvi. 39. Luke 
xxii. 43. Heb. v. 7. John xii. 27. Psalm xxii. 1, 2, 14, 21. 
lxix. 1,2. 2. In his body, — in circumcision, Luke ii. 21. ; in 
labour, Mark vi. !3. ; in hunger, Matt, iv- 2. ; in thirst, John 
xix. 28. ; in weariness, John iv. 6, 7. ; in repeated dangers of 
death, Matt. ii. 16. Luke iv- 18—29. Mark iii. 6, 7. Luke 



318 OF CHRIST'S STATE OF HUMILIATION. 

xiii. 31, John v. 16. vii. 1, 32, 44. viii. 59. x. 39, xi. 53,54.; 
in bloody sweat, Luke xxii. 44. ; in apprehension and bonds, 
Matt. xxvi. 50. xxvii. 30. ; in being shamefully spitted on by- 
vile miscreants, Isa. 1. 6. lii. 14. Matt. xxvi. 67. xxvii. 30. ; in 
being buffetted, scourged, and his hair plucked out, Isa. 1. 6. 
Mic. v. 1. Matt. xxvi. 67. xxvii. 30. John xix. 1.; in being 
crowned with thorns, and having his garments painfully torn 
from his bloody and wounded body, Matt, xxvii. 29, 34, 35. 
John xix. 2. ; in receiving gall and vinegar for drink, Psal. lxix- 
2i. Matt, xxvii. 34, 48.; and in dying the most shameful, lin- 
gering, and universally tormenting death of the cross, Luke 
xxiii. 28. John xix. 17. Psal. xxii. 17. Mark xv. 24, 25. 3. In 
his reputation he was loaded with the most abusive railing and 
calumny, Matt. xi. 19. xii. 24. John viii. 22, 24, 48, 52. xii. 
20. x. 33. Mark iii. 7, 21. xiv. 63, 64. Psal. xlix. 19, 20. xxii. 
6. ; the most false accusations, Matt. xxvi. 59 — 67. xxvii. 12. 
Luke xxiii. 2. John xix. 7. ; and the most ignominious ridicule, 
Psal. xxii. 6 — 8- xl. 15. lxix. 7, 12. Matt. xxvi. 68. xxvii. 
47. Luke xv. 2. John vii. 35. 4. In his outward lot. He 
sprang of a very debased, though once royal family, Isa. xi. 1. 
liii. 2. ; was conceived by a woman of low estate, Luke i. 27, 28. ; 
in Nazareth, a wicked and infamous city, John i. 46. vii. 52.; 
born in Bethlehem, a mean place, Mic. v. 2. Matt. ii. 1 — 6. ; 
in a stable, and laid in a manger, — thus rendered like to a 
beast, to punish our original hearkening, and continued confor- 
mity to beasts, instead of God, Luke ii. 7. He, for a time, 
lived an exile in E gypt, the land of cruel bondage, Matt. ii. 
14, 15. ; and long dwelt and laboured as a mean carpenter in 
profligate Nazareth, Matt. ii. 23. Luke ii. 51. Mark vi. 3. 
He was oppressed with poverty, especially while he preached 
the gospel, and went about healing all manner of diseases, 
2 Cor. viii.. 9. Matt. viii. 20. Luke ix. 58. Psalm lxix. 29. xl. 17. 
5. Though his Godhead could not be affected with sufferings of 
any kind, yet his person being under the curse, Gal. iv. 4. 
iii. 13. his divine glory was concealed under the likeness of 
sinful flesh, Rom. viii. 3. ; and subsisted in personal union with 
a manhood, continually affected with sufferings, and was, by 
that means, exposed to the vilest contempt and insults, Acts 
xx. 28. iii. 15. 1 Cor. ii. 8. Psalm xxii. 6. 

The curse of the broken covenant of works having thus 
set him up, in all that pertained to him, as a butt of God's in- 
dignation, drew sufferings upon him from every quarter. His 
Father, who loved him infinitely, acting as a righteous judge 
toward him as our Surety charged in law with our sins, de- 
serted him, — hid his face from him, — was wroth with him, — 
and executed upon him just vengeance, by himself, by devils, 
men, and other creatures, as his instruments, Isa. liii. 2 — 12. 



OF CHRIST'S STATE OF HUMILIATION'. 319 

Matt, xxv ii. 46. Zech. xiii. 7. John xviii. 11. xix. 11. Acts 
ii. 23, 24. iv. 27, 28- — While holy angels, shut out by the 
curse, stood aloof from him, devils permitted, and as it were 
empowered by it, did tempt and harass him, Matt. iv. 1—11. 
John xiv. 30. — Of men, his kinsfolk reproached, rejected, and 
plagued him, Markiii. 21. John vii. 1 — 10. ; his neighbours of 
Nazareth attempted to murder him, Luke iv. 28, 29. ; his 
hearers cavilled at his words, and blasphemed him, Luke xi. 
xiv. Mark iii. v. John v — x.; his disciples vexed him with 
their ignorance, unbelief, presumption, contention, ambition, 
and unconcern, Luke v. 8. John xiv. 5—9. xvi. 31. Matt. 
xiv. 31. xvi. 22, 23. xvii. 4, 17. Luke xxii. 23,46. Judas, 
one of them, in the most treacherous manner, for a pitiful re- 
ward betrayed him, Psalm xli. 9. Iv. 1j— 15. cix. 4. Matt, 
xxvi. 15,21, 25, 47,48- Contrary to his most solemn pro- 
mises, Peter, upon the slightest temptations, thrice denied him, 
cursed and swore that he had never known him, Matt. xxvi. 
3 o, 35, 69 — 74. ; the other ten forsook him and fled, Matt, 
xxvi. 31, 56. John xvi. 32. His avowed enemies persecuted 
him in every form. Herod I. attempted to murder him in his 
infancy, and for his sake blew all the babes about Bethlehem. 
Herod II. sought to kill him, when a preacher; and with his 
men of war abused and contemned him.— After they had for 
several years persecuted him, the Jewish rulers, priests, scribes, 
and pharisees apprehended him, procured his crucifixion, and 
during it, in the vilest manner insulted and abused him. The 
common people, who had just before loudly extolled him as 
the promised Messiah, preferred to him a most notorious rob- 
ber and murderer; insisted for his crucifixion, and abused him 
under it. Pilate, the Roman governour, condemned him ; his 
heathen soldiers scourged and crucified him, and parted his 
garments, Psalm ii. 1 — 4 xxii- 6 — 21. lxix. 1—22. Matt. ii. 
xxvi. xxvii. Luke xiii. 31, 32. xxiii. 7 — 11. Mark iii. John v. 
vii. viii. x. xi. xviii. xix. Luke xxii. xxiii. And, by slander- 
ous accusations, the Jewish rulers attempted to imprison him 
in his grave, Matt, xxvii. 63.-66. 

The humiliation of Christ was necessary, 1. To execute the 
purpose of God and the covenant-engagements of Christ, Acts 
ii. 23, 24. iv. 27, 28. Psalm xl. 6—8. 2. To fulfil the mani- 
fold types and predictions of the Old Testament, Lev. i— xvi. 
Num. xv. xix. xxviii. xxix. Psal. xxii. lxix. Isa. liii. Zech. 
ix. 9. xiii. 7. The troubles of Abel, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, 
Job, Moses, David, and all the sacrifices, with the lifting up 
of the brazen serpent, prefigured this, Col. ii. 17. Heb. x. 1. 
3. To satisfy the broken law of God, and purchase eternal re- 
demption for us, Isa. liii. 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12. Heb. ix. 12, 
15. x. 10, 14. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. ii. 24. iii. 18. Rev. v. 9. 4. To 



320 OP CHRIST'S STATE OF HUMILIATION. 

give the redeemed an unspotted pattern of holiness and patience 
under suffering, 1 Pet. ii- 20 — 24. Eph. v. 2, 25. 

Reflect. Turn aside, my hell-hardened heart, and be- 
hold this great sight, the bush of Jesus 1 manhood burning in 
the flames of Jehovah's wrath, and not consumed ! Behold the 
power of men's enmity against God, that made them thus 
hate, reproach, and murder his only begotten Son, — their Sa- 
viour, whose instructions had been so edifying, his life so vir- 
tuous, and his unnumbered miracles so benevolent! Behold 
the dreadful punishment, — and in that punishment the heinous 
nature of sin ! What is a deluged world, — a burning Sodom, — a 
plagued Egypt, — an opened hell, — and all the torments of the 
damned, when compared with this, — the Son of God cursed, — 
troubled in soul, till he knew not what to say, — amazed and 
very heavy, — sorrowful even unto death, — roaring under the 
hidings of his Father's face, — groaning and dying under the 
weight of his wrath ! — Behold with awful dread, what must 
quickly be my condition, if I be and continue an unbelieving 
and impenitent sinner, — a graceless preacher !— Betrayed by 
Satan, by the world, and my own treacherous, but much 
trusted heart ! Accused by the fiery law ! Fast apprehended 
by a stinging death! Condemned by God, and consigned to 
be an everlasting butt of his infinite vengeance, and a derision 
of wicked angels and men ! Upbraided by the curses of those 
whom my careless ministrations, my carnal or trifling con- 
verse, and untender example, have seduced towards hell ! 

But listen, my soul ! — how, — by every reproach, — by every 
wound, — every groan, — every tear, — every drop of blood, Je- 
sus, the Son of God, invites and obtests me to come to him 

and be saved ! Dare I, — can I, contemn or resist such calls 

from him who loved me, and gave himself for me ! — Behold ! 
how completely my debt is paid, — my happiness is purchas- 
ed, — my peace with God procured and confirmed ! Behold a 
fulfilled, an everlasting righteousness, a finished transgression, 
an ended sin, a wasted curse, a vanquished death, an extin- 
guished hell, a fulfilled, a magnified, a smiling law, an espous- 
ing God ! and all for me ! — Behold, the mighty debt of love 

which I owe to Christ and his Father ! Let me prize, 

prize more than ten thousand worlds, the Man, God's fellow, 
who, for me, was sold for thirty pieces of silver. Let me 
cleave with full purpose of heart to my once forsaken Lord. 
Let me boldly confess my thrice denied Redeemer. Let my 
heart and soul entertain him who, for me, had not where to 
lay his head. Let me with hosannas in the highest exalt my 
once contemned, reproached, but now glorified Christ. Let me 
take up my cross and follow him. — If I forget thee, O Jesus ! 



OF CHKIST'S STATE OF HUMILIATION. 321 

let my right hand forget her cunning, and my tongue cleave to 
the roof of my mouth But, ah ! my sins ! shamed, detest- 
ed, crucified, and destroyed let them be. — Nay, loathed and de- 
tested be my soul, if I follow, — if I preach Jesus Christ, not 
from love, but for filthy lucre. 

Notwithstanding the tremendous humiliation of our Re- 
deemer, it was attended by many honourable circumstances. 

1. An angel repeatedly foretold his birth, Luke i. 26 — 36. 
Matt. i. 20, 21. 2. John Baptist, his forerunner, when yet 
unborn, leaped in his mother's womb at his approach, Luke i. 
41. 3. An host of angels with high shouts of praise pro- 
claimed his birth, Luke ii. 10 — 14. 4. An angel prevented 
his falling under a suspicion of bastardy ; and directed the pre- 
servation of his infant life, Matt. i. 19, 20. ii. 13, 19, 20, 22- 
5. When he was presented in the temple, Simeon and Anna, 
by divine inspiration, proclaimed him the true Messiah, Luke 
ii. 25 — 38. 6. An uncommon star directed the wise Gentiles 
to the place of his birth, in order to worship him, Matt. ii. 

2, 9, 10. 7. Being yet a child, he disputed with the most 
learned doctors, Luke ii. 40 — 50. 8. His Father by a voice 
from heaven repeatedly attested his divine Sonship, Matt, 
hi. 17. xvii. 5. John xii. 28. 9. The Holy Ghost, in a visi- 
ble manner, descended upon him at his baptism, and rested 
upon him, Matt. iii. 16. John i. 33, 34. 10. John Baptist 
repeatedly declared him the Messiah, John i. 29 — 36. iii. 24 — 
36. Matt. iii. 11 — 14. 11. He fasted forty days in the wil- 
derness, vanquished Satan's temptations, and angels ministered 
to him, Matt. iv. 1 — 11. Luke iv. 1 — 10. 12. His body 
was gloriously transfigured on the mount, and he conversed 
with Moses and Elias, two glorified saints, Matt. xvii. 1— 
14. Luke ix. 28 — 36. 13. A voice from heaven encouraged 
him under his fearful apprehensions of approaching death, 
John xii. 27 — 29. 14. In his agony, an angel appeared to 
strengthen and comfort him, Luke xxii. 43, 44. 15. A few 
days before he was crucified, the solemn hosannas of the chil- 
dren and multitude of Jerusalem proclaimed him the Messias, 
Matt. xxi. John xii. 16. A supernatural darkness attended 
his crucifixion, Matt, xxvii. 45. 17. A perplexing dream of 
Pilate's wife attested his innocence, Matt, xxvii. 19. 18. Pi- 
late, who condemned him, repeatedly pronounced him inno- 
cent, and, instead of a crime, resolutely marked his cross with 
a threefold attestation of his true Messiahship, John xviii. 38. 
xix. 4. Luke xxiii. 4, 14, 15, 22. Matt, xxvii. 23, 24. John 
xix. 19 — 22. 19. While he hung on the cross, a crucified 
thief and an attending centurion, being then converted, pub- 
lickly acknowledged him the true Messiah, Luke xxiii. 40—47, 

Xx 



322 OF CHRIST'S STATE OF HUMILIATION. 

Matt, xxvii. 51. 20. While he expired, an earthquake rent 
the rocks, and the vail of the temple, if not also opened many 
graves about Jerusalem, Matt, xxvii. 51, 52. 21. Nicode- 
mus and Joseph of Arimathea, who had hitherto concealed 
their regard for him, now openly acknowledged him the Mes- 
siah, and procured him an honourable burial in Joseph's new 
sepulchre, lately hewn out of a rock in his garden ; thus mak. 
ing his grave with the rich, after it had been appointed with 
the wicked malefactors in Calvary, John xix. 38 — 42. Isa. liii. 
9. 22. While he lay in his grave, fulfilling the sentence of 
the broken law, Gen. ii. 17. iii. 19. ; implementing the ancient 
types and predictions concerning him, and manifesting that he 
was truly dead, the Holy Ghost preserved his mangled bloody 
corpse from all corruption, Psalm xvi. 10. Acts ii. 2", 31. xiii. 
35, 37. 23. His enemies' attempt to imprison him in his 
grave, did but render his resurrection more glorious and ma- 
nifest, Matt, xxvii. 66. xxviii. 4, 11. 24. His amazing in- 
structions, sermons, and conferences, Matt. v. — vii. xiii. xx. 
xxi. xxii. xxiii. xxiv. xxv. Luke iv.- — xxi. John ii. — xvi. 
25. His almost unnumbered miracles, Matt. iv. 25. xi. 5. 
xiv. 35, 36. 

His miracles were publick and uncontrolled, — manifesting 
his power— over devils, in dislodging them from n.en and 
granting them liberty to enter into swine, Acts x. 38. Matt. viii. 
16. ix. 33. xii. 22 — 28, &x. — over men, in making the furious 
band who came to apprehend him, fall backward at his word, 
John xviii. 6. ; — over diseases, healing the most inveterate le- 
prosies, palsies, dropsies, fevers, bloody issues, blindness, wi- 
thered benumbedness, lameness, maimedness, lunacies, &c. 
Luke iv. 40. Matt. viii. Mark i. — iii. v. vii. ix. x. Luke xiv. 
John v- ix — over death, in raising to life the deceased daugh- 
ter of Jairus, the coffined son of the widow at Nam, and La- 
zarus, who had been dead four days, and was buried, Mark v. 
36 — 42. Luke vii. 11 — 15. John xi. 38 — 44- ; — over irrational 
creatures, in cursing the fig-tree, Matt, xxi- 19. ; multiplying 
the loaves and fishes, Matt. xiv. 15 — 21. xv. 31— 38. ; causing 
multitudes of fish to come into a net, Luke v. 4 — 7. John xxi. 
6 — 8. ; and one bring money in its mouth for paying the tri- 
bute, Matt. xvii. 27- ; in walking upon the sea, and making 
Peter walk upon it, Matt. xiv. 25 — 29. ; in calming dreadful 
tempests by his word, Matt. viii. 26. xiv. 32. — His working 
miracles differed from that by his prophets and apostles. 1. 
He wrought all his miracles by his own power, and in his own 
name, John v. 17. xi.ll.; they wrought their's in his name 
and strength, Acts iii. 6—13. iv. 11. ix. 34. 2. His power 
of working miracles was constant, — theirs but occasional, and 
by means of prayer, Matt. iv. 25. xi. 5. 1 Kings xvii. xviii. 






OF CHRIST'S STATE OF HUMILIATION. 

2 Kings i.— iv. Acts iii. 3. He communicated this power to 
others ; they could communicate it to none. By his mira- 
cles thus performed, 1. He manifested himself to be "the Son 
of God in our nature, producing the miracle by his divine 
power, and yet by a word, a touch, or the like, which respect- 
ed his manhood, Matt. vii. 33, 34. John ix. 6, 17. 2. He 
manifested in himself one distinguished mark of the true 
Messiah, Isa. xxxv. 5, 6. xxix. 18. Matt. xi. 5, 7. And this 
the more remarkably proved his true Mcssiahship, as there 
had been no miracles wrought in the holy land for above 700 
years before, nor on earth for about 600 yenrs before. Nor 
did any but himself work any miracles in the temple, the house 
of God, Matt. xxi. 14. 3. He confirmed his doctrine to be 
of God, John v. 36. x. 38. xiv. 11. Luke xi. 20. Matt. xii. 
28, 29. 4. He demonstrated his supreme power over all 
creatures, Matt, xxviii. 18. Eph. i. 21. Psalm xxiv. 1. 5. He 
testified his compassion and kindness towards men, and his 
readiness to heal the diseases, and supply the wants of their 
souls, John vi. 37. Luke ix. 56.— During his private life, 
Christ wrought no miracles at all, and but one after his resur- 
rection : nor did he ever work any for his own advantage. — 
He refused the devils' attestation of his miraculous powers, 
that he might not be suspected of any collusion with them, 

Mark i. 24, 25. To fulfil ancient predictions, — to shun the 

troublesome concourse of multitudes, — to manifest his own 
humility,— and not irritate the Jews to untimely conspiracies 
against him, — and that he might not confound them with too 
many miracles, he sometimes forbade them that had been 
healed to publish it, Matt. viii. 4. ix. 30. xii. 16. But he 
never hindered any Gentiles to publish what they had expe- 
rienced ; which, perhaps, prefigured his publication of his gos- 
pel among them. 

II. -Betwixt the death and resurrection of our Saviour, his 
humiliation and exaltation were conjoined. His humiliation 
continued in his body's- lying in the grave, under the power of 
death, and in the breach of the union between his soul and 
body. — His exaltation began in the happiness of his separated 
soul, in the heavenly mansions. That it went thitlier is evi- 
dent. 1. He committed his departing soul into the hands of 
his pacified Father, Luke xxiii. 46. 2. It retired to paradise, 
and was there with the soul of the penitent thief that very day 
on which he died, Luke xxiii. 43. 3. The Papists' Limbus 
patrum or infantum, or purgatorv, are but mere fancies, into 
which nothing can go. 4. Neither Scripture nor common 
sense assign any proper end of his soul's retiring to hell after 
his death. — It needed not go thither to finish its part in his 



324 OF CHRIST'S STATE OF EXALTATION. 

sacrifice, that being completed in his death, John xix. 30, 
Heb. x. 14.; — nor to triumph over devils, having done that 
on the cross, and being soon to do it more gloriously in his 
resurrection and ascension, leading captivity captive, Col. ii. 
15. Psalm lxviii. 18-;— nor to preach the gospel to the damned, 
their season of grace being for ever gone, Heb. iii. 7, 13 — 15. 
Luke xvi. 26.— It was not then, but in the days of Noah, that 
he preached to the sinners of the old world, whose souls had 
lived in the prison of an unregenerate state, and after death 
had gone to the prison of hell, 1 Pet. iii. 19, 20. And though 
Sheol, or Hade's, sometimes means the place of the damned, 
Psalm ix. 17. Luke xvi. 23.; yet, more frequently it means 
the grave or separated state of the dead, Job xxi. 13. Gen. 
xxxvii. 35. xlii. 38. 1 Kings ii. 6. Psalm cxli. 7. ; or, a state 
of terrible debasement and trouble, Isa. xiv. 9, 11, 15, 19, 20. 
Psalm xviii. 5. cxvi. 3- Jon. ii. 2.-— Now, Christ's body, which 
is all that Nephesh or Psyche means in some texts, Lev. 
xix. 28. xxi. 1, 11. Num. v. 2. Luke vi. 9. was not left in 
Sheol or Hades, but raised from death and the grave, Mark 
xvi. 6, 9. 1 Cor. xv. 4, 20. Nor was his soul left in its terri- 
ble debasement, or separated from his body, but re-united to 

it, and exalted to glory, Psalm xvi. 10. The lower parts 

of the earth into which Christ descended, was this world, 
reckoned lower than the heavens,— and his mother's womb, 

Eph. iv. 9. Isa. lv. 9. Psalm cxxxix. 15 In the grave he 

was in the heart of the earth, Matt. xii. 40. ; even as Tyre 
was in the heart of the sea, though very near the shore, Ezek. 
xxvi. 4. 

Christ's unmixed exaltation consists in his being completely 
glorified, in rising from the dead, ascending to heaven, sitting at 
God's right hand, and coming to judge the world. In all these 
four steps, his person God- man is exalted, though the addition 
of glory be only made to his human nature.— As, in his humi- 
liation, his person was debased in his manhood, so, in his ex- 
altation, his person was exalted in his manhood. In his humi- 
liation, the glory of his Godhead was eclipsed by the sufferings 
of his manhood. In his exaltation it shines brightly through 
the graces of his manhood, Phil. ii. 6 — 11. Heb. ii. 8 — 10- Isa. 
liii. 2—12. Hi. 13, 14, 15. 

I. Christ's resurrection from the dead on the third day, be- 
ing a peculiar hinge, of the gospel-dispensation, was not only 
foretold by the prophets, Job xix. 25. Psalm xvi. 10, 11. xxii. 
19 — 21. ex. 7- Isa. liii. 8. xxv. 8- lv. 3. Acts xiii. 34. Zech. iii. 
8. Hos. vi. 2. ; — and typified by Noah's departure from the ark, 
Joseph's deliverance from prison, Samson's carrying oft the 
gates of Gaza, Daniel's coming out of the lion's den, — the 



& 



OF CHRIST'S STATE OF EXALTATION. 325 

leper's live bird flying away alter it had been dipped in the 
blood of its fellow, — the dismission of the scape-goat, Gen. 
viii. xli. 14. Judg. xvi. 3. Dan. vi. 23. Lev. xiv- 6, 7- xvi. 21, 
22.; — and by Isaac's deliverance from death on the third day 
after he was divinely devoted to it; Hezekiah's going up to 
the house of the Lord on the third day after he received a 
divine sentence of death ; and Jonah's coming out of the 
whale's belly on the third day, Gen. xxii. Heb. xi. 19. 2 Kings 
xx. 5. John ii. 10. i. 17- Matt. xii. 40. 1 Cor. xv. 4. ;— but we 
have many, and most manifest proofs, that it actually took 
place. I. The soldiers who had been appointed to watch his 
sepulchre, being affrighted by the earthquake, or by the angels 
who had appeared to roll the stone from the door of it, pub- 
lished the truth of his resurrection, and of the wonders which 
attended it, that same day in Jerusalem. Nor could their 
confounded masters, rulers of Judah, invent any thing to dis- 
credit it, but a most glaring falsehood, Matt, xxviii. 11 — 15. 

11. Holy angels testified that he was risen, to the women that 
went to visit his sepulchre, Matt, xxviii. 6, 7. III. Many 
saints, who had been raised together with him, went into Je- 
rusalem, and appeared unto many, Matt, xxvii. 53- IV- Christ 
himself manifested the truth of it, in eleven or twelve differ- 
ent appearances to his friends. 1. To Mary Magdalene at 
the sepulchre, Mark xvi. 9. John xx. 11 — 18. 2. To the wo- 
men returning from the sepulchre, Matt, xxviii. 8, 10. 3. To 
Cleophas and his companion going to Emmaus, Luke xxiv. 
13 — 31. 4. To Simon Peter alone, Luke xxiv. 34. 1 Cor. 
xv. 5. 5. To ten apostles in their chamber at Jerusalem, 
Luke xxiv. 36 — 48. John xx. 19 — 23. — all on the very day 
of his resurrection. 6. To eleven apostles on the eighth 
day after, 1 Cor. xv. 5. John xx. 26 — 29. 7. To seven of 
them at the Sea of Tiberias, John xxi. 1 — 21. 8. To ele- 
ven apostles on a mountain of Galilee, Matt, xxviii. 16 — 20. 
9. To more than five hundred brethren at once, 1 Cor. xv. 6. 
10- To his eleven apostles just before his ascension, Acts i. 
4 — 11. Luke xxiv. 49 — 51. 11. To James, 1 Cor. xv. 7. 

12. After his ascension, to Stephen, Acts vii. 56. ; — to Paul, 
1 Cor. ix. 1. xv. 8. Acts ix. 3 — 17. ; — and to John in Patmos, 
Rev. i. — iii. v. x. xxii. V. After many repeated sights of 
him, and much converse with him, his twelve apostles, with- 
out, nay, contrary to, every consideration of carnal interest, 
did, within a few weeks after he had been murdered at Jeru- 
salem, when the very same multitudes who had procured and 
witnessed his death were met together, publish his resurrec- 
tion to them, in the most bold, steady, and uniform man- 
ner. Nor could all the power, learning, craft, rage, and 
malice of their opponents produce any other refutation but 



326 OF CHRIST'S STATE OF EXALTATION. 

threatenings, imprisonment, and murder, Acts ii. — viii. xii. 
VI. The Holy Ghost, by miraculously descending upon the 
apostles, and enabling them to preach in languages which they 
had never learned, discern spirits, and work miracles, and 
making their report so wonderfully successful on the hearts 
even of their most outrageous opposers, mightily attested 
Christ's resurrection, Acts ii — vi. Johnxiv. 16, 17,26. xv. 26. 
xvi. 7 — 14. xx. 21. Actsi. 5, 8. 

Christ was raised from the dead by the concurring influence 
of all the three divine persons. 1. By the Father, to whom it 
is emphatically ascribed, Acts ii. 24. iii. 15, 16. iv. 10. x. 40. 
xvii. 31. Rom. x. 9. vi. 4. viii. 11. 1 Pet. i. 21. Eph. i. 20. 
Heb. xiii. 20. — Thus he acknowledged him his beloved Son, 
adjudged, and called him to his glorious reward, as well as 
he had done to his debased service, 1 Tim. iii. 16. Heb. v. 4, 
5. And, to testify his full satisfaction for his elect, and his 
solemn justification as their head, he sent an angel to open 
the grave, his prison, Isa. liii. 8. Matt, xxviii. 2. 2. By the 
Son, John ii. 19. x. 17, 18; Rom. i. 4. 1 Pet. iii. 18. John v. 
21. xi. 25. 3. By the Holy Ghost, who is perhaps on that 
account called the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, Rom. viii. 2, 

11. vi. 4. The Father, as a fully satisfied judge, released 

him from prison. The Son, having finished his humiliation- 
work, re-united his soul to his body, both having still continued 
united to his person. The Holy Ghost, who dwelt in both, 
re-established their natural union. 

Concerning the resurrection of Christ, it must be remarked, 
that, 1. The very same body which he had before his death, 
rose again, in all its essential properties, Luke xxiv. 39. John 
xx. 20, 27. 2. He rose from the dead very early on the first 
day of the week, to mark him the Hind of the morning, the 
morning Star, the Day-spring from on high, and the Sun of right- 
eousness, Psalm xxii. title. Rev. ii. 28. xxii. 16. Luke i. 78. 
Mai. iv. 2. Matt, xxviii. 1. Mark xvi. 9. Gen. i. 5. 3. He rose 
again upon the third day, after he had lain dead part of the 
sixth, all the seventh, and a few hours of the first day of the 
week, Matt. xii. 40. 1 Cor. xv. 4. It was not proper that he 
should rise too soon, lest the reality of his death should have 
been doubted ; nor proper that he should continue dead very 
long, lest his followers should have utterly fainted, and his 
resurrection not be timely published, when the facts were 
fresh in men's memories. 4. He rose again with great de- 
liberation, — to manifest which, and that his body had not 
been stolen away, nor should die any more, he left his grave- 
clothes behind him, decently wrapped together, and orderly 
placed, John xx. 5—7. 5. He rose with great solemnity : 
An earthquake shook the place : an angel rolled away the 



OF CHRIST'S STATE OF EXALTATION. 327 

stone from the door of his sepulchre, and sat upon it : two 
others placed themselves on his grave : multitudes of saints 
rose along with him, and perhaps ascended to heaven as his 
harbingers, Matt, xxviii. 2. xxvii. 53. Mark xvi. 4 — 6. John 
xx. 12. 6. He rose as a publick person, representing an elect 
world, and, in his resurrection, received from God as the 
Judge, a complete legal discharge of all their debt, and took 
possession of eternal life in their name, Rom. iv. 25. Eph. ii. 
6. 7. He rose to enjoy a state of everlasting life and happi- 
ness, Rom. vi. 9. Col. i. 18. 1 Cor. xv. 23, 37, 38. And 
though he once ate with his disciples, it was not from natu- 
ral appetite, but to confirm his resurrection, Luke xxiv. 42, 
43. Acts x. 41. 

II. Christ, in his manhood, ascended to heaven. — Not only 
had the translation of Enoch and Elias to heaven, soul and 
body, — the exaltations of Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, and 
Daniel, after their trouble and danger, — and the priests' plac- 
ing the ceremonial ark in the most holy apartment of the 
tabernacle or temple, — and their carrying the blood and in- 
cense into the sanctuary or Holy of Holies, prefigured it, 
Gen. v. 24. 2 Kings ii. 11. Heb. xi. 5. Gen. xxxvii. — xlviii. 
Exod. ii. to Deut. xxxiv. Josh. i. — xxiv. 1 Sam. xvi. xxx. 
2 Sam. i. — xxiv. 1 Chron xi. — xxix. Dan. vi. Exod. xl. 21. 

xxx. /, 8. 1 Kings viii. 8 — 10. Lev.iv. 7, 18. xvi. 12 — 16. ; 

and the prophets foretold it, Psalm xxiv. 7 — 10. xlvii. 5, 6. 
lxviii. 18. Mic. ii. 13. Psalm viii. 1. Ezek. i. 26, 27. x. 18. 
1 Pet. iii. 22. But, 1. His disciples saw him ascend to hea- 
ven, Acts i. 9, 10. 2. Two holy angels testified that he did 
ascend to it, Acts i. 11. 3. Stephen, Paul, and John saw 
him in his ascended state, Acts vii. 55^ 56. ix. 3, 4, 17. xxii. 
6 — 21. Rev. i. 10 — 19. v. 6. xii. 5. 4. The marvellous de- 
scent of the Holy Ghost, and its effects, demonstrated that he 
had ascended, John xvi. 7 — 14. Acts ii. 33 5. The terrible 
overthrow and dispersion of the Jewish nation is a standing 
proof of his ascension, Matt. xxvi. 64. John viii. 21 — And, in 
this ascension, 1. His Father took him up into heaven, to ac- 
knowledge him his beloved Son, and to manifest his perfect 
fulfilment of all righteousness for his elect, Phil. ii. 9. Luke 
xxiv- 51. Actsi. 11,22. ii. 33. v. 31. Eph. i.20. 1 Tim. iii. 16. 
1 Pet. i.21. 2. In improving his purchased glory for himself 
and his people, Christ went up into heaven, John xx. 17. Eph. 
iv. 8 — 10. John xiv. 2, 3, 28. xvi. 7, 28. Acts i. 10, 11. Mark 
xvi. 19. Psalm xlvii. 5. lxviii. 18. 

Concerning Christ's ascension to heaven, it may be observed, 
1. He. ascended forty days after his resurrection. He con- 
tinued so many days on earth before he ascended, — that he 



328 OF CHRIST'S STATE OP EXALTATION. 

might give many repeated proofs of his resurrection to his 
followers, Acts i. 3. ; — that he might sufficiently instruct his 
apostles in every thing which pertained to the abolishment of 
the Jewish ceremonies, with the form, order and worship of 
the New Testament church, Acts i. 3. Mark xvi. 15—18. 
Matt, xxviii. 18—20. ;— that his disciples might have but a few 
days to wait for the effusion of his Spirit ; and that there might 
be as much time between his glorious birth to immortal life 
and his entrance into his heavenly temple, as had been be- 
tween his humbled birth and his presentation in the Jewish 
temple, — and as much time between his bloody baptism, the 
attestation of his divine Sonship, and his entrance on his hea- 
venly ministrations, as had been between his water baptism, 
the attendant attestation of his Sonship, and his entrance on 
his publick ministry on earth, Matt. iii. 14— -17. iv. 1—17. ;— of 
which spaces, perhaps the long fasts of Moses and Elijah were 
typical. 2. He ascended from Mount Olivet, perhaps from 
the very spot where he had suffered his bloody agony,— there 
displaying his power, and setting off as a triumphant conque- 
ror, where his human weakness had chiefly appeared, and 
where he had sustained a terrible conflict with all the powers 
of darkness, Acts i. 12. Luke xxiv. 50. 3. He was parted 
from his disciples while he was solemnly blessing them,— thus 
labouring in his redemption-work till his very last moment 
on earth, — shewing that he was the true seed of Abraham, in 
whom all nations should be blessed, — and that while he left 
blessings behind him, he had still many more to bestow, Acts 
i. 9. Luke xxiv. 52. 4. Multitudes of angels attended him 
in his ascension with solemn shouts of praise, Psalm lxviii. 17. 
xlvii. 5, 6. Dan. vii. 9—14. 5. In his ascension he triumphed 
over devils as his captives, and received gifts for sinful men, 
in order to promote and secure their eternal salvation, Psalm 
lxviii. 18. 

III. Having ascended up into heaven, Christ sat down at 
the right hand of God, which means the most honourable sta- 
tion, the nearest and most familiar fellowship with him, 1 Cor. 
xv. 27. Psalm ex. 1, 5. Heb. i. 3. iv. 14 viii. 1. Phil. ii. 9. 
Isa. Hi. 13. Eph. i. 20, 21. 1 Pet. iii. 22. God the Father, in 
rewarding Christ for his humbled service, set him down at his 
right hand, Eph.i. 20. Acts ii. 31, 33. ; and Christ himself, as 
taking possession of his glorious reward, sat down, Mark xvi. 

19. Heb. i. 3. viii. 1. Zech. vi. 13 His sitting at the right 

hand of God includes, 1. The endowment of his manhood 
with inconceivable glory and happiness, Acts ii. Psalm xvi. 
11. 2. The high honour of his person God-man, it being 
the privilege of lords to sit, Dan. vii. 9. 1 Kings ii. 19. Esth. 



OP CHRIST'S STATE OF EXALTATION. 329 

i. 13. Job xxix.'25. ; and the character of servants to stand y 
1 Kings xvii. 1. Dan. vii. 16. Zech. iii. 7. Psalm cxxxiv. 1'. 
Prov. xxii. 29. Thus Christ sits as our Intercessor crowned 
with glory and honour ; and yet to mark his readiness to act, 
help, or enter into us, he is represented as standing' at the 
right hand of God, — at the right hand of the poor,— or at the 
door of your heart, Acts vii. 55, 56. Psalm cix. 31. Rev. iii. 
20. 3. His refreshful rest after his finished labours, Heb. iv. 
10. Psalm ex. 1. Mic. iv.4». 4. His judicial and royal power 
and authority, Matt. xix. 28. Zech. vi. 13. 5. The ever- 
lasting and undisturbed continuance of his happiness, honour, 
rest, and authority, 1 Cor. xv. 25- Psalm ex. 1,5. xlv. 6. 
Heb. i. 8. 

IV. Christ's judging the world at the last day, is not a 
higher step of exaltation, than his sitting at his Father's right 
hand ; and is by some included in it. But it is a more publick 
and solemn manifestation of his glory, in which we may consi- 
der the preparation, the judgment itself, and the execution 
of the sentences. 

I. In the preparation for the last judgment, are included 
Christ's own personal appearance, the raising of the dead, and 
the assembling and separation of the parties to be judged. 

1. Christ will appear in the most exalted manner in his own 
and his Father's glory, attended by all his holy angels, — will 
erect his great white throne in the air ; — and, in an awful man- 
ner, require all men to attend at his judgment-seat, Rev. i. 7. 
xx. 11, 12. Matt. xxiv. 24, 29 — 31. xxvi. 64. John v. 28. 1 
Thess. iv. 15. 2 Thess. i. 7—10. Psalm L 1-- -6. 

2. The dead shall be raised from their graves. This pre-sup- 
poses the preservation of all the essential particles of their bo- 
dies while dead, and preservation of their souls in life, in order 
to be reunited to them — It includes the new formation of these 
particles into bodies fit for the residence of their respective souls, 
— and the reunion of their souls to these newly formed bodies, 
in order to the renewal of human life. — All the dead of man- 
kind shall be thus raised. 1. In nature, we have manifold em- 
blems of this resurrection. The day returns after the night. — 
Vegetables, which are apparently dead in winter, as well as ser- 
pents, swallows, and other animals, revive in the spring. And 
men, as well as brutes, awaken after sleep. 2. While reason 
manifests that God, by his infinite power and wisdom, is able 
to preserve, and anew form these particles into human bodies, 
—it no less clearly suggests, that men not being rewarded in 
this life according to their deeds, there must be some future 
state of retribution, in which men's bodies, whi«h had partook 

Yy 



330 OF CHRIST'S STATE OF EXALTATION. 

with their souls in their virtue or vice, must share with them in 
sensible happiness or misery, Eccl. iii. 16, 17. 3. Every lead- 
ing truth of the Christian religion requires the resurrection of 
the dead. If the Son of God assumed a human body in order 
to shew kindness to us, our bodies must be eternal partakers of 
his fraternal favours. If, in his body, as well as in his soul, he 
fulfilled ail righteousness for us, our bodies must be delivered 
from death, and partake of his purchased eternal life. If our 
bodies, in a proper manner, partake of the seals of his covenant, 
they must share of the eternal happiness therein sealed. If our 
bodies be temples of Christ and his Spirit, and be washed in his 
blood, they must not lie in everlasting ruins, Heb. ii. 11—15. 
x. 5, 22. Matt. xxvi. xxvn. xxviii. 19. 1 Cor. x. 16, 17. xi. 24 
—26. vi. 19, 20. Rom. viii. 11. 4. God hath already given al- 
most innumerable pledges of this future resurrection of the dead, 
— in raising the son of the widow of Zarephath, 1 Kings xvii. 
21. ; the son of the Shunamite, 2 Kings iv. 35. ; the man cast 
into the grave of Elisha, 2 Kings xiii. 21. ; the daughter of 
Jairus, Luke ix. 49 — 56. ; the son of the widow of Nain, Luke 
vii. 15. ; Lazarus, John xi. 44. ; manv saints at Christ's resur- 
rection, Matt, xxvii. 53. ; Dorcas, Acts ix. 40. ; Eutychus, Acts 
xx. 10. : — but chiefly Christ himself, who is the first begotten 
from the dead, and the first fruits of them that slept, 1 Cor. xv. 
13—28. Col. i. 18- 2 Cor. iv. 14. 1 Thess. iv. 14- Rom. viii. 11. 

1 Pet. i. 3. Rev. i. 5. 5. Scripture plentifully attests this fu- 
ture and general resurrection of men, good and bad, Exod. iii. 
6. Matt. xxii. 31, 32. — Deut. xxxii. 39. 1 Sam.ii. 6. Job xix. 25 
— 27. j (the words of which are too emphatical to mean only a 
temporal deliverance : nor doth Job appear to have had any 
hopes of such a deliverance, Job vi. 8, 9, 11. vii. 7, 8. x. 20, 29. 
vi. 22. xvii. 1, 15. xix. 10.) Psalm xvi. 11. xvii. 15. Isa. xxv. 
8. xxvi. 19. Dan. xii. 2. Hos. xiii. 14. Luke xiv. 14. John v. 
28, 29. vi. 39, 40, 44, 54. xi. 24, 25, 26. xiv. 19. Acts iv. 
2. xvii. 18, 31. xxiii. 6. xxiv. 15. xxvi. 8- 1 Cor. vi. 14. xv. 

2 Cor. i. 9. iv. 14. 1 Thess. iv. 14 — 16. 2 Tim. iv. 1. Heb. vi. 
2. Rev. xx. 12. Ezek. xxxvii. 1 — 14 — In Luke xiv- 14. xx. 
26. 1 Cor. xv. 23. Phil. iii. 11. John vi. 39 — 47- 1 Thess. iv. 
14. wicked men are excluded from a happy resurrection, but 
not from a miserable restoration to life — All men shall be rais- 
ed in the same last day ; but the righteous, including the martyrs, 
shall be raised first in order. — And the same human bodies which 
were buried, shall be raised again in all their essential parts. 
1. It would not be a resurrection, but a new creation, if the 
same bodies were not raised. 2. God's justice requires, that the 
same bodies which assisted in virtue or vice, should be raised 
to share in their respective rewards or punishments. 3. Christ, 
who is the pattern of our resurrection, had his very body that 



OF CHMST'S STATE OF EXALTATION. 331 

was crucified, restored to life, and re-united to his soul, John 
xx. 20, 26, 27. Luke xxiv. 39. Rom. viii. 11. 4- The very 
same bodies of men which fell asleep,— which were once mor- 
tal, corruptible, weak, dishonourable, vile,— sown in death, lay 
in their graves and were devoured by worms, shall be raised 
again, Dan. xii. 2. 1 Cor. xv. 42—54. Phil. iii. 21. John v. 28, 
29. Jobxix25 — 27. No possible mixture of particles can ren. 
der this raising of the same body difficult to God's infinite know- 
ledge, wisdom, and power ; — and perhaps no essential particles 
of human bodies can incorporate with any other animal body — 
Nevertheless raised bodies will be very much different in quali- 
ties from what they are now, suited to bear the happiness or .mi- 
sery of the eternal state, 1 Cor. xv. 42 — 44, 52, 54. vi. 13. 

3. The righteous and wicked shall, by the angels, be fully 
separated one from another, — the righteous placed at Christ's 
right hand in the air ; and the wicked, perhaps classed accord- 
ing to their most remarkable crimes, shall be left assembled on 
the earth, Rev. xx. 12. 1 Thess.iv. 17. Matt. xiii. 41,49. xxiv. 
31. xxv. 32,33. 

II. The general judgment of all mankind will immediately 
follow these preparations. 1. God's not punishing or reward- 
ing men in this world, according to their deeds, strongly sug- 
gests the certainty of some future general judgment, Eccl. iii. 
16, 17. 2 Thess. i. 6 — 8. 2. The consciences of heathens sug- 
gest a future judgment, Rom. ii. 15. And hence spring their 
fables of Eacus, Minos, and Rhadamanthus judging men in the 
other world. 3. Scripture plentifully attests the reality of a 
future general judgment, Psalm 1. 1 — 6. xcvi- 11 — 13. xcviii. 
7 — 9. Eccl. xii. 14. Jude 14, 1*5. Acts xvii. 31. Matt. xii. 32, 
36,37. xiii. 41. xvi- 27. xxvi. Rom. xiv. 10. 2 Cor. v. 10. 
2 Tim. iv. 1. Rev. xx. 11 — 15. John v. 27 — 29. Heb. vi. 2. 

To render men perpetually watchful, and constantly prepar- 
ing for this general judgment, in which their qualities and con- 
duct will be thoroughly tried, and their eternal happiness and 
misery publickly fixed, God hath perfectly concealed the precise 
time of it, Mark xiii. 32 — 38. But the destructive vengeance 
of God on the Jewish nation, and the heathen persecuting em- 
pire of Rome, — on Antichrist, and Gog and Magog, are pre- 
ludes of it, Psalm xxi. 8 — 12. ex. 5, 6. Matt, xxiv- 29 — 51. 
And the general conversion of both Jews and Gentiles to Christ,, 
and the thousand years reign of his saints, are more delightful 
forerunners of it, 2 Thess. ii. 11 — 13. Rev. xi. xvi. — xx. Rom. xi. 

God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, will judge the world at 
the last day, Eccl. xii. 14. Psalm 1. 6. Rom. ii. 15, 16. But 
Christ God-man, as the mediatorial deputy of God, will imme- 
diately act in this work, Matt. xxv. 31 — 16. xix. 28. John v. 22. 



332 OF CHRIST'S STATE OF EXALTATION. 

Acts xvii. 31. x. 42. Rom. ii. 16. xiv. 10. 1 Cor. iv. 4, 5. 2 Cor, 
v. 10. 1 Thess. iv. 16. 2 Thess. i. 7 — 9. 2 Tim. iv. 1. Rev. i. 7. 
Thus shall the ignominy of his debasement be publickly wiped 
off, and his victory over his enemies be manifested, Rev. i. 7. 
Matt. xxvi. 64. ; and men shall have a visible judge, who, in the 
hardest circumstances, fulfilled that law by which he judges 
others, Rev. i. 7. Matt. iii. 15. v. 17, 18. Luke xxiv. 26. Gal. 
iv. 4. iii. 13. John viii. 29. Isa. xlii. 21 — The saints will not 
assist Christ in judging the world. But they judge others,— 
1. In Christ their Head, in whom they are already risen and 
sit together, Eph. ii. 6. 2. Their good works, especially when 
publickly mentioned in the last judgment, interpretatively con- 
demn the wickedness of devils and men. 3. They will approve, 
perhaps with solemn shouts, the sentences which Christ will pass 
upon wicked angels and men, 1 Cor. vi. 2, 3. — The apostles' 
sitting on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, 

means, that gospel-hearers will be judged by those doctrines 

and laws which they taught ; and they will have most exalted 
fellowship with Christ in heaven, as they had in the church on 
earth, Matt. xix. 28. 

'Christ will then judge, 1. All the devils, Jude 6. 2 Pet. ii. 4. 
Matt. xxv. 41. viii. 29. ; — and all men, good and bad, 2 Cor. v. 
10. Rev. xx. 12. Acts x. 42. 2 Tim. iv. 1. But believers shall 
tiot come into the judgment of condemnation, John iii. 18. v. 
24. Rom. viii. 1, 33, 34. Nor shall wicked men stand or be 
justified in the judgment, Psalm i. 5. 2. All the qualities, 
thoughts, words, and deeds of these devils and men, 1 Cor. iv. 
5. Rom. ii. 15, 16. Matt. xii. 36, 37. 2 Cor. v. 10. Eccl. xii. 14. 
Matt. xxv. 34 — 45. : — and in judging these, Christ will examine 
the causes, and pronounce the sentences. 

Christ's trial of causes, in the last judgment, will be, 1. Most 
easy, — the judge being possessed of infinite knowledge, wis- 
dom, power, equity, and majesty; and the consciences of 
the judged being fully awakened and impartial, will readi- 
ly attest every charge, 1 Cor. iv. 5. Heb. iv. 13. Rom. ii. 15. 
1 John iii. 20, 21. 2. Most exact as if transacted by opened 
books, — the book of God's infinite knowledge, and exact re- 
membrance of every quality, thought, word, and deed, Psalm 
cxxxix. 16. lvi. 8. Mai. iii. 16. ;— the book of men's conscience, 
in which the law, which is the standard of judgment, and every 
quality, thought, word, and d* ed, are divinely marked, Rom. ii. 
15, 16. 1 John iii. 20, 21. Acts xxiv. 16. 2 Cor. i. 12. ;— the 
book of Scripture, according to the declarations of which, the 
judgment shall proceed, and by which they who had it shall 
be judged, they who had it not, shall be judged by the law of 
nature, Rom. ii. 12. Luke xii. 47, 48. ;— and the book of God's 
purposes : those who are found in his purpose of election, or 



OF CHRIST'S STATE OF EXALTATION. 333 

book of life, being through Christ's righteousness imputed to 
them, and his grace implanted in, and exercised by them, ad- 
judged to eternal happiness ; and those who are not, being con- 
demned to hell, Rev. xx. 12. xxii. 12. 3. Most publick, every 
angel and man being present to \\ ltness or share in every thing 
transacted; and hence much different from God's judging men 
in this life, or at death, Rev. xx. 11, 12. Matt. xxv. 31 — 45. 
4. Most regular, the righteous being first judged, as they were 
first raised, and must give their solemn assent to the judgment 
of others, — and to shew them that God delights more in acts of 
mercy and favour, than in those of dreadful \ engeance, Matt. xxv. 
34 — 45. 5. Most solemn, with inconceivable grandeur and ma- 
jesty, Rev. xx. 11, 12. i. 7. 2 Thess. i. 7. Matt. xxv. 34--45. 

The sentences pronounced, in consequence of this trial, will be 
infinitely just and proper, every one receiving sentence accord- 
ing to the nature or desert of the works charged to their ac- 
count in law, Rev. xx. 12. xxii. 12. Rom. xiv. 12. 2 Cor. v. 
10. Matt. xii. 36, 37. Wicked men shall be condemned for the 
sinfulness of their nature and practice, and particularly for un- 
kindness to poor saints, in which they had manifested their 
contempt and hatred of Christ and his Father, Matt. xxv. 
41 — 45. Believers shall be adjudged to everlasting life on ac- 
count of Christ's fulfilment of the law in their stead, Rom. viii. 
34. Phil. iii. 9. ; and their sentence will correspond with the na- 
ture, though not with the merit of their gracious qualities and 
works, particularly their kindness to poor saints, which shall 
be publickly mentioned as a mark of their union with Christ, 
filial relation to God, gracious heirship and diligent seeking of 
his heavenly kingdom, Matt. xxv. 34 — 40. But, whether their 
sins will be publickly mentioned in the last judgment, is not so 
evident. On the one hand, 1 . None of their sins are mentioned 
in the judicial procedure, Matt. xxv. 34 — 40. 2. God casts all 
their sins behind his back, into the depths of the sea, and re- 
members them no more, lsa. xxxviii. 17. xliii. 25. Mic. vii.18. 
Jer. xxxi. 34. v. 20. 3. Christ, their judge, being also their 
propitiation and advocate, would not mention their sins, Rom. 
iv. 25. 1 John ii. 1, 2. Prov. x. 12. xvii. 9. 4. The publick 
mention of their sins could not but affect them with shame ; 
and could not consist with his presenting them zvithout spot or 
tvithout wrinkle, Eph. v. 27. But on the other hand, 1. Every 
work of men, whether good or bad, is represented as brought 
into judgment, Eccl. xii. 14 2 Cor. v. 10. 2. God's justice 
seems to require, that both sides of a cause should be produced 
and heard, Gen. xviii. 25. 3. Many of their sins are publickly 
marked in Scripture. 4. By the publick mentioning of their sins, 
the justifying virtue of Christ's blood will be illustriously mani- 
fested, Acts xiii. 39. 5. Many of their sins are so connected 



334 OF CHRIST'S STATE OF EXALTATION. 

with those of the wicked, that the one cannot be publickly men- 
tioned without the other. 6. The belief of such publick mani- 
festation of their sins may be of great use to render them cir- 
cumspect in this life. 7. Such publick mention of their sins 
could not then affect them with disagreeable shame and 
confusion, as it is not their innocence, but Jesus and his righte- 
ousness, which are their comfort and glory, Eph. i> 7. 

III. These sentences will immediately be executed in the 
wicked going away into everlasting punishment, and the righte- 
ous into life eternal, Matt. xxv. 46. 2 Thess. i. 8 — 10. Dan. xii. 
2, John v. 28, 29. Rev. xx. 13—15. 1 Thess. iv. 17. Rom. ii. 
6 — 10. Isa. iii. 10, 11 — While the holy angels drive the wick- 
ed to hell, and honourably attend the saints to heaven, Matt, 
xiii. 41, 42, 49, 50. this lower world, by an universal confla- 
gration, shall be purged of all the effects of sin, and its present 
form changed into one exceedingly pure and glorious, Job xiv. 
12. Psalm cii. 26, 27. Isa. lxv. 17, 18. Ixvi. 22. Rev. xx. 
12—15. xxi. xxii. 2 Pet. iii. 7 — 13. Rom. viii. 19 — 21. 

Christ's exaltation is necessary, I. In respect of his Father. 

1. That he might manifest his faithfulness and equity, in re- 
warding him, as Mediator, according to his deserts, and the 
promises made to him, Psalm xix. H. Isa. liii. 10 — 12. Iii. 13. 
Psalm xxi. xxii. 27 — 31. Isa. ix. 6, 7. xl. 9, 10. xix. 1 — 12. 

2. To mark his distinguished love to him, as the darling of his 
heart, in whose high honour and intimate fellowship he in- 
finitely delights, Isa. Ii. 13. xlii. 1. Matt. iii. 17. xvii. 5. Psalm 
xci. 14 — 16. 3. To manifest his infinite highness, in holding 
so inconceivably exalted a God-man Mediator still subject to 
him, John xx. 17. 1 Cor. xv. 27, 28. 4. To manifest the ex- 
ceeding riches of his grace towards men, in exalting their na- 
ture in personal union with his own Son, that they may be- 
hold, receive from, and worship God, answerably to their con- 
dition. And hence perhaps his exaltation is represented as a 
gift, Phil. ii. 9. II. In respect of Christ himself. 1. That his 
honour might be fully and conspicuously re-established after so 
remarkable humiliation, John xvii. 5. 2. That, notwithstand- 
ing his manhood had a right to great glory by its personal union 
with his divine nature, he might also enjoy it as the reward of 
his humbled service, as a publick and everlasting mark of the 
perfection and acceptation of his atonement by God, Isa. xlix. 
3,4. xl. 10. liii. 10—12. Phil. ii. 6— 11. John xvi. 10. 3. That 
in his administration of the new covenant, he might honourably 
execute his threefold office, take possession of eternal life, 
prepare heaven for his people, and, by his intercession, word, 
and Spirit, prepare them for it, and at last manifest his special 
love to them before the whole world, John xiv. 2, 3, 19. Heb. 



OF CHRIST'S STATE OP EXALTATION. 335 

vi. 20. 4. That he might effectually subdue, restrain, destroy, 
and triumph over his and our implacable enemies, Psalm xxi. 
8 — 12. lxviii. 18, 21. ex. lj 5, 6. 1 Cor. xv. 25. 5. That, in 
fulfilling the ancient types, and predictions, he might manifest 
himself the true promised Messiah, 1 Cor. xv. 4. Luke xxiv. 
26, 27. Heb. viii. 4. III. In respect of his elect. 1. In his re- 
surrection he secured their union to him, as his quickened mys- 
tical members ; — secured their justification, receiving a solemn 
acquittance and acceptance, in their name, 1 Tim. iii. 16. Rom. 
iv. 25. ; — secured their regeneration and sanctification, Col. ii. 
11, 12. iii. 1. Eph. ii. 5, 6. Rom. vi. 4—6. Phil. iii. 10. Gal. 
ii. 20. ; and secured their resurrection to everlasting life, 1 Thess. 
iv. 14. 1 Cor. xv. 12, 13, 22, 23. Col. iii. 3, 4. Rom. viii. 11, 
13, 29. 2. In his ascension he took possession of heaven 
in their name, — prepares it for them, — pours down his Spirit 
upon them, — weans their affections from things of this world, 
which he hath left, and attracts them to things above, where he 
is, John xiv. 2,3. 2 Cor. v. 5. John xvi. 7. xii. 32. Col. iii. 
1,2. 3. His sitting at the right hand of God is their relative 
glorification, — secures their exaltation in due time, Eph. i. 
20 — 23. Rev. iii. 21. It manifests the perpetual efficacy of his 
intercession for completing their happiness, and the destruction 
of their enemies, Heb. i. 3. viii. 1, 2. 1 Cor. xv. 24. Psalm ii. 
4. xcvii. 1 — 5.— —It teaches them an holy reverence of him, 
Psalm ii. 12. xlv. 11. Rev. i 13 — 17.; an ardent love to him, 
anda ready opening of their heart to him, Psalm xxiv. 7—10. ; 
a contempt of earthly, and an esteem of, and desire after, hea- 
venly things, as seen in Him, their Head, exalted to the high- 
est, Eph. i. 18 — 20. 4. In his coming to judgment, he will 
crown them with glory and honour ; and instead of secret par- 
dons, comforts, and attestations by his Spirit, — will publickly. 
before all angels and men, proclaim them his and his Father's 
righteous favourites and adopted children. 

Reflect. If God so exalt Jesus Christ, why hath he not 
an higher, — a far higher place in my heart ? Why do not all 
my thoughts, words, and deeds, concur in exalting him ? Why 
is not my whole conversation in heaven, where Christ is at the 
right hand of God, and making continual intercession for me ? 
Why am not I alway denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, 
and living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, 
■ — and looking for the glorious appearing of the 'great God my 
Saviour,— and my being for ever with the Lord ? 



OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 



BOOK V. 



OF THE PRINCIPAL BLESSINGS OF THE COVENANT OF GRACE, 
UNION WITH CHRIST ; JUSTIFICATION ; ADOPTION ; SANCTI- 
FICATION; SPIRITUAL COMFORT, AND ETERNAL GLORIFICA- 
TION. 



CHAP. I. 

Of Union with Christ, and Effectual Calling. 

THE general benefit which Christ, by his humiliation, pro- 
cures and bestows in his exaltation, is our redemption or sal- 
vation, which includes the whole of our deliverance from the 
broken law, from sin, Satan, the world, death, and hell, — our 
full title to, and possession of grace and glory, to all eternity : 
Or, it includes the change of our spiritual state, in union to 
Christ, justification through his blood, and adoption into his 
family, which is perfected in the very first instant ; and the 
change of our nature and condition in regeneration, sanctification, 
consolation, and eternal glory, which is perfected by degrees, 
Rom. viii. 30. 

Christ's purchase of redemption for us doth not profit us, but 
by its effectual application to us. 1. Its typical representations 
manifest this. — The water of purification did not remove legal 
pollution, unless it was sprinkled ; nor did the mixture of blood 
and water purify the leper, unless it was applied to his flesh, 
Num. xix. Lev. xi. xv. xvi. xiv. 1 Pet. i. 3. Heb. x. 22. xii. 24. 
2. The emblematical representations of Christ and his benefits 
by a garment, Rom. xiii. 14. Isa. lxi. 10. ; by food, John vi. 53. 
Isa. xxv. 6.; and by medicine, Isa. liii. 5. Rev. xxii. 2, which 
do not profit unless they be applied, prove this. All the pro. 
mises of the gospel represent God as making over himself and 
his blessings to men, Gen. xvii. 7, 8. Isa. xxv. 6. lv. 2, 3. Acts 
xiii. 34. Ezek. xxxvi. 25 — 27. 4. If this application were not 
absolutely necessary, the eternal happiness of all men ^ruist be 
equal, as the price of our redemption is infinite in value, and 
equally suitable to all men, contrary to John xiii. 18. Acts viii. 
21, 23. Matt. vii. 13, 14. 5. Christ's word, sacraments, and 
other instituted means of salvation, plainly mark the necessity 
of a spiritual application of it, 2 Cor. v. 18 — 21. Luke x. 21. 
Gal. iii. 27. 1 Cor. x. 16, 17. 



OF UNION WITH CHRIST- 337 

The Holy Ghost is the effectual applier of redemption 
to us, in and l>v whom Christ and his Father work in us. And 
he applies it, either mediately, through the word and sacraments, 
to adult persons, or immediately, to infants, and in the heavenly- 
state, Isa. xliv. 3 — 5- John xvi. 7 — 14. Ezek. xxxvi. 27. Isa. 
lix. 21. And Christ being the Surety, Trustee, Administrator, 
Source, and Sum of all the blessings of the new covenant, 
union with him must be a remarkable benefit in itself, and the 
immediate foundation of all the rest, which are lodged in his 
person. — There is an apparent union between Christ and all the 
members of the visible church, which is formed by their re- 
ceiving common gifts and influences from him, and their making 
an open profession of his truths and service ; — and which is 
easily broken, John xv. 2, 6. Matt, viii. 12. And there is a 
moral union, of mutual affection between him and believers, 
which is more properly communion, John xiv. 21 — But that 
union with him, upon which our enjoyment of his benefits 
depends, includes, 1. A legal union between us as guilty and 
self-ruined debtors and criminals, and him as our Surety. This 
was formed from all eternity, when we were chosen in him. 
The everlasting love of God and the covenant of grace are the 
bonds of it ; — and the placing our sins to Christ's account, that his 
satisfaction for them might be placed to ours in law reckoning, 
is the effect of it, Heb. vii. 22. Eph. i. 4. 2 Cor. v. 21. Rom. 
y. 19. 2. His personal union with our nature, formed in the 
fulness of time, in order to his fulfilling the requirements which 
his legal union with us drew upon him, Heb. ii. 11 — 16. John 
i. 14. Isa. vii. 14. Rom. viii, 3, 4. Gal. iv. 4, 5. 3. A spiri- 
tual or mystical union, formed in the moment of our rege- 
neration, — in which we, as Christ's purchased Bride, are, by 
his Spirit entering into our hearts, and by our receiving him by 
faith, united to him as our Husband and Head of influence, 
1 Cor. i. 30. vi. 17. John xvii. 26. Eph. ii. 21, 22. iii. 17 — In 
attesting the reality of this union between Christ and believers, 
the Scripture represents him as in them, and them as in him, 
John xiv. 20. vi. 56. xv. 4, 5, 7. xvii. 21, 26. Col. i, 27. 1 John 
v. 20. 2 Cor. v. 21. Isa. xiv. 17. ; and having him for their life, 
1 John v. 11, 12. Gal. ii. 20. Col. iii. 3, 4, ; and being partakers 
of him, Heb. iii. 14. 

This spiritual union between Christ and believers being ex- 
ceedingly mysterious in itself, is in Scripture illustrated to us 
by many similitudes, some of which transcend, and others are " 
transcended by it. 1. It is likened to that union which is 
between the persons of the Godhead, John xvii. 21. xiv. 20. 
vi. 57. But here it falls infinitely short, — not being absolutely 
necessary, or self-existent ; nor doth it constitute Christ and 
believers one individual substance. 2. It is likened to the union 

Z z 



338 OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 

of Christ's two natures in his person ; — for, as his manhood 
was conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost, we are born of 
the Spirit, Matt. i. 20. Luke i. i.5. John iii. 5, 6, 8. 1 Pet. i. 3, 
23. 1 John iii. 9. v. 18. As Christ, by a sovereign act, assumed 
our nature, — he by another apprehends our person, Heb. ii. 14, 
16. Phil. iii. 12. As, in his manhood dwells all the fulness of 
Godhead, we, being in him, are filled with all the fulness of God, 
Col. ii. 9, 10. Eph. iii. 19. He, being made flesh, tabernacled 
with us, — and We, being united to him, God dwells with us in 
him, John i 14. Rev. ii. 13. Eph. ii. 21, 22. iii. 17. — In him, 
as God-man, there is the grace of union, unction, and headship ; 
and in us, as united to him, there is a gracious union, unction, 
and membership, John i. 14, 16. Col. ii. 19. i. 18. — Never- 
theless, our spiritual union with him falls far short of the union 
of his two natures, — as it doth not render him and us one 
person, — nor, for a time, incapable of sin, Gal. v. 1 7. Rom. 
yii. 14 — 25. viii. 13. But it is indeed by that new nature which 
his self-uniting act forms in us, that he holds fellowship with 
our soul, 2 Pet. i. 4. 2 Cor. v. 17. Gal. yi. 15. ; and which, by 
his gracious influence, mortifies our inward corruption, till it be 
utterly abolished, Rom. viii. 2, 13. Gal. v. 17,24. Rom. vii. 
14 — 25. 3. It is likened to the union between a king and his 
subjects, because he, as our Brother, hath power over, cares for, 
rules and protects us ; and we are voluntarily subject to him, 
and have our eternal happiness dependent on his infinite wisdom, 
power, mercy, and honour, Rev. xy. 3. Matt. xxv. 34 — 40. 
But it is much more spiritual, close, and permanent. 4. As it 
imports mutual knowledge, choosing, solemn self-dedication, 
and issues in mutual love, delight, and interest, it is likened to 
the marriage-union betwixt husband and wife, Eph. v. 30, 32. 
Isa. liv. 5. Ezek. xvi. 8 — 14. Song ii. 16. vi. 3. But here also 
it much transcends, as it renders Christ and believers one spirit, 
and can never be dissolved, 1 Cor. vi. 16, 17. Phil. ii. 5. 2 Pet. 
i. 4. Col. iii. 3. Hos. ii. 19, 20. 5. To mark that their happy 
connections, support, and glory, depend on him, it is likened to 
the union of a building with its foundation or corner-stone 
Isa- xxviii. 16. 1 Cor. iii. 9, 11, 17. Psalm cxviii. 22. 1 Pet. ii. 
4, 5. Eph. ii. 20 — 22. But here also it far transcends, as 
Christ is equally near and communicates life to every believer, 
1 Pet. ii."5. Gal. ii. 20. John xiv. 19. xi. 15. 6. Because 
through it we receive all our supporting, quickening beautify- 
ing, and fructifying influences, it is likened to the union between 
the root of a tree and its branches, John xy. 1 — 7- Col. ii. 7. 
But here also it far transcends, as Christ, our root, is equally 
near to all his branches, and not one of them can become alto- 
gether withered, barren, or broken off, Rom. vii. 4. vi. 14. 
viii. 35 — 39. John x. 28, 29. 7. As we are enlightened, go- 



OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 339 

vcrned, honoured, and receive our spiritual nourishment and 
breath through Christ, it is likened to the union between our 
head and other members of our body, Eph. iv. 15, 16. 1 Cor. 
i. 12. Col. i- 18. ii. 18, 19. But it far transcends this, as Christ 
is equally near to every member, and none can be separated 
from him, or become utterly benumbed or mortified, John xiv. 
16, 19. Col. iii. 3, 4. Gal. ii. 20. Isa. xxvi. 19. 8. As Christ 
enters into our soul, and is the very life of it, our spiritual 
union with him is likened to that of our soul, or of our food 
with our body, John vi. 56, 57- Col. iii. 4. But it is much 
more close, as Christ can never be separated from us, or cease 
to actuate us, Eph. iv. 16. Col. ii. 19. Gal. ii. 28. 

Our spiritual union with Christ may be further illustrated 
from our connection with Adam. In consequence of our legal 
union with him, formed in the covenant of works, his Fall under 
the curse drew, that very moment, all his posterity along with 
him ; and lying in threatenings of the broken law, it is ready 
to pour its vials of wrath upon us, whenever we exist ; and 
hath a baleful influence in drawing us into actual existence ; 
but never , till we become nnited with him as our natural root 
or parent, hath it any hold by which it can fix upon us : — so, 
in consequence of Jesus's fulfilling all righteousness for us, he, 
as our legal Head and Husband, received a full justification for 
us, which lies ready for us in the promises of the gospel ; but 
till we be united to him, as our Head of influence, in whom all 
the promises are Yea and Amen, we have no actual share in 
his righteousness and grace. It may also be further illus- 
trated, from the personal union of Christ's two natures. 1 . In 
the constitution of the legal union between Christ and us, a 
precise moment was fixed for the union of our nature to his 
divine person, that the debt charged upon him, as our Surety, 
might be demanded and obtained from him, Gal. iv. 4. Rom. 
viii. 3, 4. In like manner, a precise moment was fixed in the 
purpose of God for the spiritual union of our persons to him, 
that his righteousness fulfilled in our stead might be imputed 
to us, and the effects of it imparted to us, Ezek. xvi. 8. Psalm 
ex. 3. 2. Notwithstanding Christ's engagement from all eter- 
nity to pay our debt to the broken law, he remained in his 
Father's bosom, without having it demanded, till he assumed 
our nature in the fulness of time : and, notwithstanding the 
translation of our debt upon him, and his satisfaction for it long 
ago, we, though chosen in him, continue under the broken law, 
children of wrath, till in the time of love we be spiritually united 
to Christ, Eph. ii. 2,3. Ezek. xvi. 5 — 8. 3. From the creation 
of the world till the fulness of time, God was constandy pre- 
paring to demand his undertaken satisfaction from his Son , and 
his Son repeatedly appeared as in our nature, before he actually 



340 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 

assumed it: And while elect men continue unborn, or in a 
state ot wrath, God is always making preparations for uniting 
them to Christ in their time of love, — and, by common opera- 
tions of his Spirit, produces apparent unions ol many of them 
to him, Rev. lii. 20. Matt. xiii. 20. Heb. vi. 4, 5. 4. Though 
the translation of our debt to the broken law upon Christ by 
his legal union with us as our Surety, was the spring of his actual 
assumption of our nature, yet the demand of satisfaction, in 
order of nature, not of time, commenced posterior to that 
assumption. And, though Christ's righteousness— really ours, 
as fulfilled by our Surety legally united to us, be the foundation 
or meritorious cause of God's spiritual union of our persons to 
his, yet his formal, actual, and judicial accounting that righte- 
ousness to our persons, to constitute us righteous in law- 
reckoning, is in order of nature, not of time, consequential to 
our spiritual union to Christ, 2 Cor. v. 21. Rom. viii. 1. vii. 4. 
Isa. xlv. 24, 25. 

In infants this mystical union with Christ is formed by the 
Holy Ghost's application of him, or Christ's spiritual applica- 
tion of himself, as made of God to them wisdom, righteous- 
ness, sanctification, and redemption, and thus forming in them a 
new nature, including faith, love, repentance, and every other 
saving grace, all which, in answerableness to the natural powers 
of their soul, are ready to act in due time, as God gives oppor- 
tunity, John iii. 5, 6, 8. Mark x. 14. But, in persons having 
the actual use of their reason, this union is formed in the work 
of effectual calling, in which Christ, by his word and Spi- 
rit, invites, drives, and draws them to himself; and, in his 
powerfully applied declarations, and offers of the gospel, con- 
veys himself and his grace into their hearts. This effectual call- 
ing is the work of God, Rom. ix. 24. viii. 30. xi. 29. 1 Thess. 
iv. 7. ; and is ascribed to the Father, 1 Cor. i. 9. 2 Tim. i. 9. ; 
and to the Son, Rom. i. 6. 2 Pet. i. 3. ; but, in a peculiar man- 
ner, to the Holy Ghost, as sent by the Father and Son to apply- 
redemption to us, Rom. viii. 2. 2 Cor. iii. 6. Rev. ii. 7. John 
xvi. 7 — 13. Exek. xxxvi. 26, 27. Isa. xliv. 3.-5. — Effectual 
calling being a benefit of the covenant of grace, Jer. xxxi. 33. 
xxxii. 40. Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. Hos. ii. 14, 18 — iO. 2 Tim. i. 
9. ; purchased by the blood of Christ as a Suretv, Tit. ii. 14. 
Gal. iii. 13,14. 1 Pet. i. 18 — 21. ii. 24. iii. 18. Rev. v. 9. all 
the elect , and they only, partake of it, Rom. viii. 28 — 30. 2 Tim. 
i. 9. 1 Pet. i. 2. 2 Pet. i. 10. ; and that in different periods of 
their life on earth, Matt. xx. 1,5, 6. 2 Tim. iii. 15. 1 Cor. xv. 

8. Luke vii. 37 xxiii. 42, 43. This effectual work -of God 

is named a c aiding, as it supposes men at a distance from 
Christ by nature, and implies his dealing with them as reason- 
able creatures, by convictions, illuminations, and persuasions, 



OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 341 

in bringing them to him : and by it they are brought from a 
state of sin, wrath, darkness, and worldliness, to a state of i'ellow- 
ship with Christ and his Father and the blessed Spirit, — to the 
kingdom of God, to marvellous light, love, liberty, holiness, and 
eternal happiness in Christ, Rom viii 30, 1, 2. Eph. ii. 1 — 13, 
19 — 22. v. 8 1 Pet. ii. 9. John xv. 9. I John i. 3, 7. 2 Cor. 
xiii. 14. 1 Cor. vii. 22, 23. John viii. 32, 36. 1 Thess. ii. 12, 
13. I Tim. vi. 1 1, 12. 1 Pet- i. 16. v. 10. 2 Pet. i. 3—10. 

The manifestations of God's perfections, in the works of crea- 
tion and providence, may make men more capable of a rational 
attention to the invitations of his word, if enjoyed ; and afflic- 
tions may awaken to a seriousness in this attention. But mul- 
titudes of mankind have no outward call to the fellowship of 
Christ. 1. Multitudes of them are destitute of his statutes, 
and ignorant of his judgments, Psalm cxlvii. 19, 20.; are not 
his people in an external manner, Hos. i. 9. ii. 23. Rom. ix. 25, 
26. x. 19. ; are strangers to the covenants of promise, without 
God, and without Christ, and without all hopes of future hap- 
piness, Eph. ii. 12. ; are perishing for want of vision, Prov. xxix. 
18.; are permitted to walk in their own ruinous ways, Acts 
xiv. 16. xvii. 30. Isa. liii. 6. lv. 7. ; and are by wisdom ignorant 
of God, 1 Cor. i. 20. Rom. i. 21 — 23. 2. The doctrine of sal- 
vation is hidden from the heathen world, Eph. iii. 8, 9. Col. i. 
26. Rom. xvi. 25. 3. God forbade preaching of the gospel to 
many men, Matt. x. 5. Acts xvi. 6, 7. 4. An extensive know- 
ledge of the world experimentally demonstrates, that the bulk 
of mankind are ignorant of the method of salvation through 
Christ. 

Objec I. " The call of the gospel reaches all men, Tit. ii. 
" U. 1 Tim. ii. 4.Col. i. 6. Mark xvi. 15. Luke ii. 10." Answ. 
It is extended to men of all sorts, Jews and Gentiles, and of all 
ranks, poor or rich, but not to every particular person, Rev. v. 
9. vii. 9. A warrant to preach it every where will not prove 
that it is every where preached. 

Objec II. " The voice of nature, which extends to every 
" man, calls all to repentance and virtue, Psalm xix. 1 — 5. 
" Rom. i. 18 — 21. ii. 14, 15. Acts xiv. 17. xvii. 27." Answ. 
It calls them to God as a Creator and Preserver, but affords no 
hints of him as a Redeemer. 

Objec. III. " All men have had a double revelation of the 
" gospel of Christ, in the first promise to Adam and Eve, and 
" in God's covenant with Noah, Gen. iii. 15. ix." Answ. Were 
all men that have, do, or shall live on earth, present to hear 
these declarations, or capable to understand them ? Why not 
as well maintain that all mankind, in their own persons, lived 
perfectly happy in Eden, or are just come out of the Ark into a 
scarce dried world ? 



343 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 

Objec. IV. " Many heathens were endowed with eminent 
" goodness and virtue." Answ. 1. They had received many 
remarkable gifts from God as their Creator and preserving Go- 
vernour, but no appearances of saving graces. Nay, their pride, 
selfishness, or indulgence of some particular wickedness, plainly 
manifested the naughtiness of their apparent virtues. 2. Let 
them have what goodness they will, there is no salvation with- 
out Christ, Acts iv. 12.; no saving connection between adult 
persons and Christ, without knowledge of, and faith in him, 
John xvii, 3. Eph- iii. 17. ; John iii. 18, 36. ; and no knowledge 
of, or faith in him, without hearing the gospel, Rom. x. 14, 17. 
Prov. xxix. 18. Eph. ii. 12. 

Objec. V. " Melchizedek, Job, and his friends, the centu- 
" rion, whose faith Christ admired, the Syrophenician woman, 
" Cornelius, and many other heathens, had true and saving 
" faith. All that in any place call upon the name of the Lord 
" shall be saved. All that fear God and work righteousness 
" are accepted by him. No more is necessary to our coming to 
" our God, than a believing that he is, and is a rewarder of 
" them that diligently seek him, Gen. xiv. 18. Job i — xlii. 
" Mat. viii. 5 — 13. xv. 22 — 28. Acts x. Rom. x. 12. Acts x. 
" 34, 35. Heb. xi. 6." Answ. 1. None of the persons men- 
tioned appear to have wanted divine revelations. Melchizedek, 
Job, and his friends had access to them by tradition from Noah, 
or immediately from God, as well as Abraham and his imme- 
diate descendants — The two centurions and Syrophenician wo- 
man had access to the Jewish revelations and worship. 2. The 
works of unregenerate men, which are materially good, are re- 
garded and rewarded in this life by God, 1 Kings xxi. 29. Jon. 
iii. Mark x. 21. 3. Under the gospel men are accepted by God, 
without any regard to their family, nation, or outward circum- 
stances : but men never truly fear God or work righteousness, 
without believing in Christ; or have any true faith in him, but 
as connected with Christ, 2 Pet. i. 1. Phil. i. 29. Eph. iii. 17. 
Luke xvii. 5. John xiv. 1. vi. 35, 44, 45. Eph. ii. 18. iii. 12. 
Nor is acceptance or any other new-covenant blessing promised 
but in Christ, 2 Cor. i. 20. Psalm lxxii. 17. 

Objec. VI. " It is inconsistent with the infinite mercy of 
" God to leave multitudes of mankind destitute of the neces- 
*' sary means of salvation." Answ. 1. We have long ago prov- 
ed against Deists, that he hath done so in full consistency with 
all his perfections. 2. God's infinite mercy no more binds him 
to bestow the means of salvation upon all men, than it binds 
him to bestow them on all devils, who are his more excellent 
creatures by nature, Jude 6. 2 Pet. ii. 4. Matt. xxv. 41 . 3- Scrip- 
ture never hints that God bestows any saving mercy, but 
thi-ough Christ, 2 Cor. v. 19. Eph. i. 3. Psalm ciii. 17. xxxi. 
19. xxv. 10. lxxii. 17. 



OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 343 

Objec. VII. " All the heathens must have sufficient means 
" of salvation. If God require them to worship him, he must 
" afford them the proper laws and motives of acceptable wor- 
u ship. If he hath given them immortal souls, he must put 
" them into a proper way of obtaining everlasting happiness. 
" He cannot, in a consistence with his own infinite wisdom and 
" goodness, require that as the condition of their salvation, con- 
" cerning which he doth not inform them : in distributing eter- 
" nal rewards or punishments, he must deal with men accord- 
" ing to the opportunities, manifestations, abilities, and motives 
"which he bestowed upon them. — The faithful improvement 
" of the smallest talents, shall be rewarded with everlasting 
" life, John xx. 29. Luke xii. 47, 48. Matt. xxv. 14 — 29." 
Answ. 1. God hath afforded heathens some knowledge of the 
object of worship, but not of the way of salvation, Rom. i. 19, 
20. Eph. ii 12. Roin. x. 10 — 17. Acts iv. 12. John xiv. 6. x- 
7, 9. 2. God made devils immortal spirits, and yet, never 
since their fall, put them into any way of salvation, Jude 6. 
2 Pet. ii. 4. Matt. xxv. 41. 3. Sins against the light of nature 
are sufficiently criminal to render men eternally miserable, 
Ezek. xviii. 4. Rom. vi. 23. i. 18—32. ii. 4 — 10. iii. 9 — 20, 
23. And, though they be not so heinous, as like sins commit- 
ted against gospel-light, yet ignorance of God and spiritual 
things being a sin in itself, can never make that which is sinful 
innocent or virtuous. 4. Though God, for the encouragement 
of order and virtue, reward the apparently good works of hea- 
thens with temporal benefits, they, when examined by his spi- 
ritual and exceeding broad law, appear very unfit to be reward- 
ed by him with eternal happiness, Prov.xv. 8- xxi. 4, 27. xxviii. 
9. Psalm xiv. 2 — 4. Rom. iii. 9 — 20. 

All men who read and hear the gospel contained in the 
Scriptures, are called to the fellowship of Christ, and to receive 
a full salvation in him, as the free gift of God to themselves. 
The law, which manifests our sinfulness and danger, and warns 
us to flee from the wrath to come, and which, upon a revela- 
tion of Christ, binds us to believe in him, is binding upon all 
men, Ezek. xxxiii. 11. Rom. iii. 10 — 20. Gal. iii. 10, 24. John 
vi. 29. 1 John iii. 23. And the gospel, which exhibits and of- 
fers Christ and his salvation, invites every man that hears it 
to receive him in it, as given to himself, without regarding 
whether he be well or ill qualified, elect or reprobate. 1 . Christ's 
righteousness being infinitely valuable in itself, and fulfilled in 
manhood, is equally answerable to the demands of the broken 
law on every man ; and all his purchased blessings relative to 
their change of state, nature, or condition, are equally sufficient 
for and suited to them all, Acts xx. 28- Gal. iv. 4, 5. 1 Cor. i. 
30. Ezek xxxvi- 25—27. Tit. i. 14- Heb. ix. 12. 14. 2. In 



344 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 

the gospel, Jesus Christ is indefinitely presented and offered to 
all men that hear it, as the absolutely free gift of God, and the 
official Saviour of mankind, Psalm lxviii. 18. Rom. xi. 26, 27. 
1 John iv. 14. John iii. 14 — 17. iv. 42. vi. 32, a9, 40. 1 Tim. 
i. 15. Heb. vii. 25. Isa. xlii. 6, 7. xlix. 6, 8. 3. In the gospel 
men are, in the most general and unlimited manner, called to 
receive the blessings of salvation, Isa. xlv. 22 — 25. Iv. 1 — 7. 
Prov. viii. 4. Matt. xi. 28. John vii. 37, 38, 39. vi. 37. Rev. 
xxii. 1 7. 4. Such men as appear most likely to be excluded, 
are expressly invited to receive Christ and his salvation, — as 
the lost, — the stupid,— foolish, — haters of knowledge,'— scorners, 
-—notorious transgressors, — stout-hearted, and far from righte- 
ousness, — rebellious, — who have sinned to their uttermost, — self- 
conceited, — insensible of their sinfulness and misery, &c. Matt, 
xviii. 11. Luke xix. 10. Hos. xiii. 9. Prov. i. 21 — 23. ix. 4, 5. 
Isa. i. 18. xlvi. 12, 13. Iv. 7. lxv. 2. Jer. iii. 1, 4, 5, 14, 22. 
Matt. ix. 13. 1 Tim. i. 15, 16, Rev. iii. 17, 18. 5. The moral 
law, which requires men to receive and obey God as the only 
true God, and their God, is precisely of the same extent in its 
object as his offers of himself to be their God. And it is ob- 
servable, that, in that moral law, there is" a five-fold grant of 
God by himself to men, as their God, Exod. xx. 2 — 17. Deut. 
v. 6 — 21. comp. Deut. xxx. 6. Unless the gospel offers and 
calls were directed to all men in general that hear it, none durst 
embrace them, till they were certain of their having the re- 
quired qualifications. — Nevertheless, it is certain, that the more 
fully a man is acquainted with himself, he will see the more of 
his own pride, naughtiness, sloth, insincerity, enmity against 
God, unworthiness of Christ, and unfitness to receive him ; — 
and that no thoroughly convinced person, especially if tempted 
by Satan, will be able to see in himself enough of sincerity, sen- 
sibility, and willingness, to receive Christ as offered in the gospel. 
Objec. I. ; ' Only the thirsty, the williyig, the heavy laden 
" labourers, are invited to receive Christ and his salvation, Isa. 
" lv. 1. John vii. 37. Rev. xxii. 17- Matt. xi. 28." Answ. The 
thirsty in Isa. lv. 1. cannot mean only those who earnestly de- 
sire Christ and his righteousness and blessings ; for, in verse 2, 
they are said to be spending money for that which is not bread, 
and labouring for that which satisfieth not; but must mean 
such as desire happiness in any form. Whosoever will, in Rev. 
xxii. 17. denotes the universality of the invitation, not the 
qualification of the persons invited John vi. 37. vii. 37. The 
heavy laden labourers in Matt. xi. 28. includes such as have fa- 
tigued themselves in sinful courses, and are laden with the 
guilt and enslaving power of sin, Isa. lvii. 10. Heb. ii- 15, 
2 Tim. iii. 6. 



OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 345 

Objec. II. " It would be infinitely unbecoming men, who 
" had just been wallowing in their wickedness, to approach to, 
" or receive the holy Jesus, before some change be made upon 
" them." Answ. 1. God must indeed make them new crea- 
tures, before they be able to receive him ; but it is not as new 
men, but as sinful men, that they are warranted and required to 
receive him for their salvation, Matt. ix. 13. xviii. 11. 1 Tim. i. 
15. 2. How is it unbecoming the dangerously diseased to ap- 
proach to, or admit the all-skilful physician, before they be al- 
most cured ? — the unclean to apply the purifying water, be- 
fore they be partially cleansed ? — the starving to take any 
wholesome provision till they be almost satisfied ? Exod xv. 
26. Hos. xiv. 4. Ezek. xxxvi. 25. Zech. xiii. 1. Isa. i. 18„ 
Acts iii. 26. Rom. xi. 26, 27- Prov. ix. 5. Isa. lv. 1—3, 7. Rev. 
xxii. 17. How is it unbecoming ignorant men to come directly 
to the only-effectual Teacher ? — unbecoming guilty men to re- 
ceive the Lord their righteousness, who is made of God unto 
them righteousness ? — unbecoming lost men to come to the only, 
the divinely appointed Saviour of men ? Isa. xlviii. 17 xlv. 17, 
22, 24. Luke xix. 10. Hos. xiii. 9. 3. It is impossible for men 
to attain to any true sincerity, humility, or reformation of 
heart, before they receive Christ, Job xiv. 4. Prov. xx. 9. 
Psalm li. 5. Eph. ii. 1 — 3, 10. Rom. viii. 7, 8, 2. John xv. 5. 
Jer. xvii. 9- xiii. 23. Tit. i. 15. iii. 3 — 7. 4. In receiving Je- 
sus Christ, as made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanc- 
tification, and redemption, we cannot continue cleaving to our 
sin, as we receive him in order to purge away and destroy it. 

Objec. III. " God could not be candid, if he called all men 
" that hear the gospel to receive Christ and his salvation, since 
" he knows many of them to be reprobates." Answ. 1. If God 
intend to cut off one by death, will that justify the man's with- 
holding proper food, medicine, or warmth from himself, or his 
plunging a knife into his own throat ? 2. God, by his gospel, 
calls no man to believe any thing but what is important truth, 
nor to do any thing but what his law requires. 

Objec. IV. " It is altogether absurd and unprofitable to call 
" reprobates to believe on Christ, since they cannot believe." 
Answ. 1. Indeed they cannot, and what is worse, they tvitt not, 
believe on him, John x. 26. v. 40. Isa. lxv. 2. Matt, xxiii. 37. 
2. Ministers, being utterly uncertain who are elected, and who 
not, must invite men in general to Christ, and leave it to the 
Holy Ghost, who knows all things, to determine such as are 
elected to believe, to the saving of their soul. 3 By the gene- 
ral invitations of the gospel, many reprobates obtain common 
gifts and graces, — have many sins prevented, — obtain much 
temporal happiness, — and are rendered remarkably useful to the 
elect. 

3 A 



346 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 

Before their mystical union to Jesus Christ, men, and espe- 
cially gospel-hearers, may perform that which is naturally or 
civilly good, — and even the matter of religious duties ; and, un- 
der common operations of the Holy Ghost, may perform that 
which resembles spiritual goodness. But they can never heartily 
comply with the gospel-call, believe in Christ, or performany 
thing in a truly holy and spiritual manner. 1. We have for- 
merly proved, that all men by nature are under the curse of the 
broken law, which is the strength of sin. And as, in their con- 
ception, that curse keeps them destitute of original righteous- 
ness, so it retains them in that condition, while it lies on them. 
2. Scripture declares all men vnclecm, which being universal, 
must be understood of sinful pollution, Job xiv. 4. ; that David, 
a child of pious parents, and one of the best of men, was shapen 
and conceived in sin, Psalm li. 5. ; that the Jewish people of 
God were wicked transgressors from the womb, Psalm lviii. 3. 
Isa. xlviii. 8. ; and that all men, by nature, are s6 enslaved by 
their indwelling corruptions, that they can do nothing spirit- 
ually good, Gew. vi. 5. viii. 21. Psalm xiv. 2 — 4. liii. 2, 3. 
Prov. xx. 9. Jer. xvii. 9. John iii. 6. xv. 5. Rom. v. 6. viii. 7, 
8. Eph ii. 1 — 3, 12. Tit. i. 15. iii. 3. 2 Cor. iii. 5. 1 Cor. iv. 7. 
Matt. xv. 19. 3. If men had any natural inclination or ability 
to do that which is spiritually good, why, amidst so many thou- 
sand powerful motives to virtue, and none at all to vice, are 
men, every where, so remarkably wicked in their thoughts, 
their words, and their deeds ?— Why do all attentive, and espe- 
cially the most sanctified men, find such inclinations toward 
vice, and such difficulty in doing any thing spiritually good ? 
Psalm xiv. 1 — 4. liii. 1—4. Rom- i. 21 — 32. iii. 9—19. Mark 
vii. 21 — 23. Rom. vii. 5 — 25. James iii. 2. 1 John i. 8, 10. 

Objec. I. " Without freedom of will, and ability to per- 
" form that which is spiritually good, men can be in no pro- 
" per state of trial for everlasting happiness or misery ; but 
" must be either in the state of devils, or of established an- 
'" gels." Answ. 1. Believers, while on earth, are not as esta- 
blished angels, being imperfect in their nature, work, and con- 
dition : Nor are wicked men as devils, being under a dispen- 
sation of God's mercy, which hath and will issue in the eter- 
nal salvation of many, Rom. vii. 14—25. 1 Tim. i. 13—16. 
John iv. Luke vii. 36 — 50. 1 Cor. vi. 9 — 11. Tit. iii. 3 — 7. 
EdIi. ii. 1 — 22. iii. 8, 9. Acts xxvi. 17, 18. 2. Since Adam's 
fall, no man hath, or ever will be, in a proper state of trial 
for everlasting happiness. 1. All believers are fixed in a state 
of everlasting salvation in Christ. Without this, they could 
have no solid hope of their perseverance or eternal glory, 
Rom. viii. 28 — 39. Jer. xxxii. 39, 40. Isa. liv. 8 — 10. xiv 17. 
John x. 27 — 29. xiv. 19. Col. iii. 3 i 4. 2. If all men were 



OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. titf 

in a state of trial for everlasting happiness, they ought all to 
have equal means and opportunities of grace afforded them, 
which it is certain they have not, Eph. ii. 12. Prov. xxix. 18. 
Psalm cxlvii. 19, 20. Acts xiv. 16. xvii. 30. 3. Such a state 
of trial would suspend men's eternal happiness upon their own 
inclinations and behaviour, not upon the free grace of God, 
contrary to 1 Cor. iv. 7. Matt. xi. 25, 26. Rom. ix. 16, 18. xi. 

6. 4. The Israelites then stood in a state of trial for their 
temporal happiness in Canaan, but in none for their eternal 
happiness, Isa. i. 19, 20. Deut. viii. 2. xiii. 5. Judg. ii. 21, 22. 
iii. 1, 4. Exod. xvi. 4. xx. 20. 5. For promoting the exer- 
cise and evidence of their graces, believers are, in their condi- 
tion, much tried with temptations, hard services, and suffer- 
ings, 1 Cor. iii. 13. 2 Cor. viii. 2. 1 Pet. i. 7. iv. 12. James i. 
3, 12. Rev. ii. 10. iii. 10, 19- Psalm lxvi. 10. Dan. xi. 35. xii. 
10. Zech. xiii. 9. But their eternal salvation being secured in 
Christ, is in no wise suspended on their good behaviour, Col. 
iii. 3, 4. John xiv. 19. x. 27 — 29. 6. Many warnings ex- 
hortations, promises, and threatenings are directed to sinners 
in Scripture, not to put them to the trial whether they will, 
of themselves, do that which is truly acceptable to God, but 
to awaken their concern to have their state changed by an 
union to Christ, Acts xxvi. 17, 18. Col. i. 13. Eph. ii. 1 — 6.; 
or directed to believers, to cause them to walk worthy of that 
state of salvation in which they are fixed in Christ, Col. ii. 6, 

7. 1 Cor. xv. 58. Jer. xxxii. 39, 40. Heb. xii. 28, 29. Phil, 
i. 27. Col. i. 10. Luke i. 74, 75. 2 Cor. vii. 1. Eph. iv— vi. 
Col. iii. iv- 

Objec. II. " If men have not a freedom of will indiffer- 
" endy to choose good or evil, and power to act accordingly, 
*' their qualities and works, not being of free choice, cannot 
*' be either virtuous or vitious, deserving praise and reward, 
" or blame and punishment." Answ. 1. Hath God then no 
freedom of choice, no liberty ? Are all his attributes and works 
unworthy of praise, because his infinite and unchangeable per- 
fection of nature cannot admit his doing any thing base or 
sinful ? Are the acts of holy angels and glorified saints, and 
especially of the man Christ, in no wise virtuous or praise- 
worthv, because their wills were, and are divinely determined 
towards good only ? Are the acts of devils no sins, because 
their inclination is fixed on mischief ? May not all these acts 
be voluntary, though their will be unalterably bended to that 
which is good, or to that which is evil ? 2. It is highly ab- 
surd to pretend, that the more inward holiness one has inclin- 
ing him to that which is good, the less virtuous and praise- 
worthy are his good actions; — and the more fixed and pre- 
pense malice he has determining him t o evil, the less bad his 



348 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 

evil actions are :— that the better the root be, the less valuable 
the fruit ; and the worse the root, the better the fruit, Matt, 
vii. 16 — 18. xii. 33 — 35. 3. Man's will never was, nor ever 
will be, placed in an equal bent towards good and evil. In 
his state of innocence it was inclined only to good, though 
changeable towards evil, Eccl. vii. 9. Gen. i. 27. v. 1. In his 
fallen state it is inclined only to evil, Gen. vi. 5. viii. 21. Jer. 
xvii. 9. Rom. viii. 7, 8. Tit. iii. 3 — In men's state of begun 
recovery, their new nature is inclined only to good, and their 
unrenewed, or old man, only to evil, Rom. vii. 14 — 25. Gal. 
v. 17, 19 — 24. In the heavenly state, it will be inclined only 
to good, 1 John iii. 2. Eph. v. 27. 

Objec. III. " To suppose men by nature without this free- 
" dom of will to choose, and ability to perform that which is 
" spiritually good, is inconsistent with the whole tenour of the 
** covenant of grace, and all the promises and calls of the 
" gospel, in which men are supposed capable to believe and 
u repent." Answ. 1. The promises of the new covenant plain- 
ly suppose men to have hard and stony hearts, and to stand in 
absolute need of God's Spirit being put into them to change 
their heart, and enable them to choose and perform that which 
is spiritually good, Ezek. xi. 19, 20. xxxvi. 26, 27. Jer. xxxi. 
33. 2. The calls of the gospel do not suppose men's natural 
ability to perform any thing spiritually good, but are calcu- 
lated to convince them of their weakness and wickedness, and 
to bring them to Christ, in whom alone spiritual strength is 
to be had, John vi. 37, 44, 45, 63, 65. vii. 38, 39. Phil. iv. 19. 
Zech. x. 12. 

Objec. IV. " Without an equal bent of their will to good 
" and evil, men cannot be subjected to any moral law." .Answ. 
Was then Christ, — and are holy angels, glorified saints, — or 
even devils and damned men, — under no moral law, because 
their will is not equally inclined towards good and evil ? If so, 
the blasphemy and murderous malice of the latter are as pleas- 
ing to God as the love and lively services of the former, Rom. 
iv. 15. v. li. 1 John iii. 4. 

Objec. V. " Scripture attests, that if heathens had enjoyed 
" proper means of grace, they would have repented and been 
" saved, Ezek. iii. 6. Matt. xi. 20 — 23." Answ. It is not 
affirmed, that they would have turned to the Lord in a truly 
hearty and evangelical manner, and been eternally saved ; but 
they would have so turned as to prevent their temporal de- 
structions, which, it is granted, may be done without special 
grace, Jon. iii. 1 Kings xxi. 29. 

Objec VI. " To deny the equal bent of men's will to good 
" and evil, or their natural ability to do that which is spi- 
*' ritually good, is a plain adopting the tenets of atheistical 



OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 349 

" Hobbes, and of tbe ancient heathen stoicks." Answ. 1. We 
may safely and honourably adopt the truth, though Satan, 
and all his emissaries, should, for wicked purposes, do the 
same, -James ii. 19. Matt. viii. 29. xvi. 16. Mark i. 24. 1 John 
v. 5. Acts xvi. 17. 1 Cor. iv. 1. 2. Hobbes pretended that 
God, by his grace, cannot determine men's will ; that he hath 
no more hand in their best actions, than in tbeir worst j that 
infants have no original sin ; and being under no law, are ca- 
pable of no fault ; that the first motions of men's minds are 
not sinful ; that no good thoughts are inspired by God, or bad 
ones by Satan ; that men may sufficiently understand their 
Bible without any assistance of God's Spirit ; that the mere 
belief of Christ's being the true Messiah is sufficient for men's 
salvation ; that saving faith is not the gift of God, but the 
production of men's own mind ; that our faith and obedience 
justify us before God, he accepting the will for the deed. — 
Many heathen stoicks taught, that human nature is not cor- 
rupted with any original sin ; that the following of right reason 
is sufficient to render men happy in the highest degree ; that 
men have it in their power to do little or no evil, and to con- 
form themselves perfectly to God in moral goodness ; that 
virtuous men are, in some respect, superiour to the gods, as 
they are perfect by their own choice and care, not by any 
necessity of nature; and that truly virtuous dispositions once 
gained, may be totally and finally lost. — Let our opponents, 
th'. efore, claim them as their fathers and brethren in senti- 
ment. 

If men's eternal happiness do not depend on their own free 
will, an effectual calling of any of them to a state of fellow- 
ship with Christ, must be entirely of God's free grace. 1. 
Scripture attributes it wholly to God's free grace, James i. 17, 
18- Eph. i. 3 — 8. ii. 1 — 10. Rom. v. 16 — 21. ix. 16, 18. xi. 6. 
iii. 24. vi. 14. Tit. iii. 3—7. ii. 11, 12. 2 Tim. i. 9. 1 Tim. i. 

13, 15, 16. 2. This call finds men in a most dreadful state 
of sin and misery, Tit. iii. 3. Rom. i. 21 — 32. iii- 10 — 20, 23. 
viii. 7, 8. Eph. ii. 1 — 3, 12. 1 Cor. vi. 9 — 11. Job xiv. A. xv. 

14, 16. Gen. vi. 5. viii. 21- Jer. iii. 1 — 5. Psalm xiv. 1—4. 
3. God often effectually calls those that are most outrageous- 
ly wicked, as Manasseh, Mary Magdalene, the harlot of 
Samaria, the dying thief, the murderers of Christ, Saul the 
persecutor, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11 — 13. Luke vii. 36 — 50. John 
iv. Luke xxiii. 42, 43. Acts ii. vi. ix. 1 Tim. i. 13 — 16. 4. 
Immediately before his call of them be rendered effectual, 
men's heart is at the very worst, under the sin-irritating power 
of his law, Rom. vii. 5, 8 — 13. 5- Though God, to honour 
his own ordinances, frequently may bestow his grace upon 



-350 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 

men while they are attending them, yet he has never pro- 
mised to reward natural men's most serious attendance with 
special and saving grace ; and when they receive it, it is not 
as the reward of their attendance, but as the issue of their us- 
ing God's appointed means of bestowing it. Thus, while 
Moses stretched out his rod towards it, the Red Sea was di- 
vided. In his sevenfold washing in Jordan, Naaman was 
healed. Such as got first into the troubled pool of Bethesda, 
were effectually cured.— In attempting to stretch out his wi- 
thered arm, the impotent man had it perfectly restored to 
vigour ; and in washing his eyes in the pool of Siloam, the 
blind man had his eyes opened ; not as the rewards of their 
work, but as the issue of their using God's appointed means of 
effecting these things, Exod. xiv. 18 — 22. 2 Kings v. 10, 14. 
John v. 4. ix. 7. Mark iii. 5- 

Objec. I. " Then men, by the most outrageous sinning, 
" put themselves as much in the way of effectual calling, as by 
u the most serious prayer, reading, hearing, or meditating, on 
" God's word." Answ. 1. None but the most abandoned men 
will sin because grace does abound, Rom. vi. 1 , 2. ii. 4, 5 Jude 4. 
2. Though men by their attendance on God's ordinances, do 
not prepare themselves for Christ and his grace, yet tiiereby 
they give him his usual and beloved opportunities of converting 
them to himself, even as beggars, who, at the king's command, 
place themselves on the way which he often passes, that they 
may receive his charity, Prov. viii. 34 — 36. Isa. lv. 1 — 3. 

Objec II. " Many conditional promises are made to the 
" good endeavours of unregenerate men, James iv. 8. Rev- iii. 
" 20. Matt. vii. 7, 8." Answ. These texts are addressed to 
professed saints. And it cannot be proved, that the drawing 
nigh to God, opening to Christ, asking, seeking, and knocking, 
there mentioned, mean nothing more than may be found in un- 
regenerate men. 

An almighty, invincible, or as others term it, irre- 
sistible, influence of the Holy Ghost, is therefore absolutely 
necessary, in and with the outward call of the gospel, in order 
to apply it to men's heart, so as to translate them from their 
state of sin and misery into a state of union to, and fellowship 
with Christ. 1. Men's natural weakness to that which is good, 
and their deep-rooted enmity against it, require such an almighty 
influence, 2 Cor. iii. 5. John xv. 5. Rom. v. 6. viii. 7, 8. Jer. 
xvii. 9. Tit. iii. 3. Nay, besides their natural corruptions, they 
are generally under the influence of many additional hindrances 
from Christ and salvation — They never seriously consider the 
certainty, awfulness, and infinitely interesting consequences of 
their death and last judgment, Deut. xxxji- 29. Psalm x. 13. 
Eccl. xi. 9. xii. 14- ; — nor the nature, number, and aggravations 



OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 351 

of their sins, Jer. ii. 35. viii. 6, 7, 12. — Nor the dreadful nature, 
certainty and eternal duration of hell torments, and their own 
connection with them, Matt x. 28. xvi. 26. xxii. 13. Luke x. 
22 — 26. ; nor the necessity, spirituality, extent, excellency, 
suitableness, and eternity of that salvation which Christ hath 
purchased for them. They indulge a vain conceit of their 
easily obtaining salvation ; or improve their contrary apprehen- 
sions, as an excitement to sloth and despair, 1 Pet. iv. 18. Jer. 
ii. 25. Ezek. xxxvii. 11. They are inclined to defer their con- 
cern about eternal tnings to some future time, perhaps their 
dying moments, Acts xxiv. 25. Prov. xxiv. 33, 34. vi. 9 — 11 
i. 22 — 28. They are closely connected with wicked men, as 
their patterns and companions, Psalm xlix. 1 1 — 20. Prov. xiii. 
20. ix. 6. They are enslaved and inflamed by a love of this 
world, in its diversified contents, appearances, and lusts ; and 
perhaps entangled in a hurry of worldly business, James iv. 4. 
Luke x. 41, 42. xii. 16—20. Eph. iv. 18, 19. Rom. i. 21. 
Th^y prefer the care and gratifications of their body to the sal- 
vation of their soul, Matt. xvi. 26. Rom. xiii. 14. Eph. iv. 
18, 19. They entertain manifold errours, and persuade them- 
selves that an infinitely merciful God will put up with very 
little religion, at least in those who are not in any ecclesiastical 
office. 2. Many passages of Scripture plainly affirm, that an 
almighty influence is necessary in the effectual calling of 
sinners ; and represent it as an exceeding greatness of God's 
power ; a creation work ; a raising of the dead, &c Eph. i. 
18,19. Gal. vi. 15. 2 Cor. v. 17. Isa. lxv. 17, 19. lxvi. 19. 
Eph. ii. 5, 9, 10. iv. 24. Col. iii. 10. John i. 13. iii. 5, 6. v. 25. 
1 Cor. ii. 12, 14 2 Cor. iii. 5. iv. 6. Jer. xxxi. 8, 33. John vi. 
37, 44, 45, 63, 65. xv. 5 Phil. ii. 13. Jer. xxxii. 40. Ezek. 
xxxvi 26, 27. xi. 19, 20. xxxvii. 1 — 14. Psalm li. 12. Deut. 
xxx. 6, Song i. 4. Acts xi. 18. v. 31. xvi. 14. xxvi. 17, 18. 
1 Pet- i. 2, 3, 23. Col. i. 13. iii. 1. Rom. iv. 17- viii. 2. Heb. 
xiii. 20, 21. 1 Cor. i. 26— 31. 2 Pet. i. 4. And hence the 
gospel, through which this powerful influence is exerted, is called 
the rod of Christ's strength, arm of the Lord, and the power of 
God, Psalm ex. 2, 3. Isa. liii. 1. Rom. i. 16. 1 Cor. i. 24. 
3. Unless the influence of the Holy Ghost, in this work, were 
invincible, men's faith, repentance, and good works must be 
ascribed to their own free will, as rendering effectual the influ- 
ence of God, — contrary to Eph. ii. 8. 1 Cor. iv. 7. Isa. xxvi. 12. 
Phil. ii. 13. Rom. ix. 6, 16, 18. Tit. iii. 3, 5. 4. Unless God, 
in this work, could, and did, more than afford men such means, 
opportunities, and influences, as their free will may rightly 
improve or not, as it pleases, — these second causes must act 
independently of God, but dependently on men's free will,-*- 
contrary to 1 Cor. iii. 5— 7. 1 Thess. i. 5. John vi. 63. 5. If 



352 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 

God's influence in changing men's state and nature, be not 
almighty and invincible, but dependent on their free will for its 
efficacy and success, — glorified saints in heaven have no more 
ground to thank God for their eternal salvation than the 
damned in hell have to thank him for theirs, as not he, but 
their own free will, was the proper cause of it, — contrary to 
Rev. v. ix. vii. 10, 12. 6. Unless this heart-changing influence 
be almighty and invincible, we can have no comfortable certainty 
of our eternal happiness, no not in heaven, as even there the 
free will of many millions of angels gave them a damning slip, 
2 Pet. ii. 4. Jude 6. Matt. xxv. 41. 1 Tim. iii. 6. God may 
choese us in Christ, and prepare heaven for us before the foun- 
dation of the world, Eph. i. 4. Matt. xxv. 34. Christ may 
become man, obey, suffer, and die for us, rise again for our 
justification, and do all that he can by his intercession ; be able 
to save to the uttermost, Gal. iv. 4, 5. Rom. iii. 25. iv. 25. 
viii. 3, 33, 34- Heb. vii. 25, 26. ; the gospel may be preached to 
us, in every advantageous circumstance, Heb. ii. 3, 4. 1 Pet. 
i. 11, 12. 1 Thess. i. 5. Rom. i. 16, 17. Tit. ii. 11—14. ; the 
Holy Ghost may do all that he can to bring us into, and keep 
us in, a state of grace, and yet all be to no purpose, "unless our 
free will, which is enmity against God, convert itself to him, 
and, by its influence, more promote our salvation than all the 
Omnipotent three, by love, by wisdom, by power, by blood, 
by prayer, are capable to do. 

Objec. I. " These scriptures which represent men's con- 
" version to God as an effect of divine power, mean no more 
'' than that .the miracles, which they saw or heard of, de- 
" termined or excited them to believe the gospel-doctrines 
" thereby confirmed, 1 Cor. iv. 19. 1 Thess. i. 6. Rom. i. 16." 
Answ. In none of these texts doth power mean miracles. 
Miracles are not Christ crucified, 1 Cor. i. 24. Nor did Paul 
demand knowledge of the miracles of his opposers. Nor are 
miracles a proof of men's election, as this power was, 1 Thess. 
i. iv. 5. Matt. vii. 22, 23. 

Objec II. " Multitudes of inspired promises, exhorta- 
" tions, &c. represent God as unsuccessfully exerting himself 
" to his uttermost, for the conversion of men, Isa. v. 34. 
'* (which words might be rendered, What shall be hereafter 
" done to my vineyard,) John i. 7, 9. v. 34, 40. xii. 32 — 40. ; 
" — and as wishing that they would comply with his calls, and 
" bewailing that they did not ; — and represent the efficacy of 
" his ordinances as dependent on their choice, diligence, and 
" care, Deut. xxxii. 29. iv. 29- viii. 2. xxx. 19. x. 16. Psalm 
" lxxxi. 10 — 14. Prov. i. 22 — 30. Matt, xxxiii. 37. (which 
" means that the Jewish rulers and parents hindered their 
" subjects and children from attending or improving Christ's 



OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. S5Z 

" instructions,) Luke xix. 41 — 44. Isa. i. 16 — 20. xxx. 15. lv. 
« 1 — 7. xlv. 22. xlvi. 12, 13. Gen. iv. 7. Jer. iv. 4, 14. vi. 8. 
" Ezek. xviii. 30 — 32. xxiv. 13. xxxiii. 11. Joel ii. 13. Zech. 
" ix. 12. Matt. iii. 2. iv. 17. vii. 7, 8. Luke xiii. 24. Acts ii. 
" 38. iii. 19. Phil. ii. 12. Tit. ii. 11, 12. Eph. v. 14. James 
" iv. 8. Rev. iii. 19, 20. Matt. xxv. 14 — 29. Luke xix. 
" 12 — 27," &c. Answ. 1. Though men, in their unregenerate 
state, can do nothing spiritually good, yet they can do many 
things which are materially good, as to pray» read, hear, or 
meditate on the Scripture, — which the Holy Ghost may make 
the means of his regenerating and quickening influences. And 
though God cannot accept their labour as coming from their 
accursed person and corrupt heart, he may, from regard to his 
own ordinances, meet with them in the use thereof. Nay, 
perhaps, he never fails graciously to meet with such as, with na- 
tural earnestness, persevere in seeking after salvation. 2. God's 
demands of dutiful obedience do not necessarily suppose men's 
sufficiency of strength to fulfil them ; but for their conviction 
of their inability, and to drive them to Christ for righteousness 
and strength, — represent what they owe to God, to themselves, 
and to their neighbours, under pain of eternal damnation. 

3. God may do all that is possible or proper in the bestowal of 
outward means of salvation upon men, without success, Isa. v. 
1 — 4. ; but not all that he can do, in the exertion of his spiritual 
influence, 1 Cor. ii. 4, 5. Rom. i. 16. 1 Thess. i. 5. ii- 13. 

4. Many of the texts mentioned in the objection, merely re- 
present God, as in a friendly manner declaring his law ; and 
some of them denote Christ's human sympathy towards his 
self-ruined Jewish countrymen. Others of them represent 
what the Israelites were bound to, and capable of performing, 
as the means of their temporal happiness in Canaan. 5. While 
some of these texts respect elect persons, whom Christ effectually 
enlightens, and draws to himself and his heavenly throne,- 1 - 
others of them, particularly these last quoted, relate to rege- 
nerated persons, in whom the Holy Ghost dwells, and causes 
them to walk in his statutes.— At least, the one talent and pound 
in the parables, mean common gifts and opportunities of doing 
good granted to church-officers or others, not real grace. 

Objec. III. " Men are represented as grieving, vexing, re- ' 
" belling against, quenching, resisting, ontstriving, and doing de- 
" spite to the Spirit of grace, Eph. iv. 30. Isa. lxiii. 10. 1 Thess. 
" v. 19.Gen.vi. 3. Acts vii. 51. Heb.x. 29. Amos ii. 13. Ezek. 
" xvi. 43." Answ. AH indulgence of sin in heart and life by 
those in whom the Holy Ghost dwells, or with whom he deals, 
is a resisting, grieving, and vexing, fkc. him. But opposition 
doth not necessarily infer actual prevalence over his strongest 
Sorts. His influences and evidences in the declarations of the 

3 B 



354 Or EFFECTUAL C ALONG. 

prophets and apostles, and his common operations may be effec- 
tually resisted, quenched, and despitefully used ; — but his spe- 
cial and saving influences cannot, Psalm ex. 3. 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. 
1 Thess. i. 5 — 10. ii. 13. 1 Cor. vi. 11. 2. Believers vex, grieve, 
rebel against, and in some- measure quench the Holy Ghost, 
when, instead of cherishing his influences, they hearken to the 
temptations of Satan and the world. 

Objec. IV. " An almighty and invincible influence of the 
" Holy Ghost in men's conversion to Christ, excludes all instru- 
" mentality of his word in it, which can only work by moral 
" suasion." Answ. 1. Did then the word of God, in the crea- 
tion of all things, work by mere moral suasion ? Gen. i. Psalm 
xxxiii. 6, 9. Heb. xi. 3. 2. The almighty influence of which 
we speak, is perfectly answerable to the nature of men's soul, 
and so is truly and morally, though infinitely powerful to per- 
suade ; and so may well be conveyed through the word of God. 
And, though men may be able to withstand the influence of the 
word, when spoken by men, they cannot withstand it when 
savingly applied by the Holy Ghost. 

Objec. V. " If men believe the necessity of an almighty in- 
" fluence of God's Spirit to convert them, they will never be 
*{ persuaded to endeavour any reformation in their heart and 
" practice, till they certainly feel this almighty influence, and 
" can continue no longer in sin." Answ. 1 . Men may reform 
their outward practice, without any experience of this almighty 
influence, Phil. iii. 6. 1 Kings xxi. 27 — 29. Mark vi. 20. Isa. 
lviii. 2. 2 Pet. ii. 20. 2. It is not men's feelings, but the law 
of God that is the rule of their duty, Isa. viii. 20. Deut. iv. 2. 
v. 32. xii. 32. Matt, xxviii. 20. 3. No man acts agreeably to the 
gospel, who doth not, under convictions of his own sinfulness, 
apply to Jesus Christ for reformation of heart and life, without 
making any prior attempts to reform them himself, Prov. xxiii. 
26. Ezek.' xxxvi. 26, 27. Jer. xxxi. 3, 18,33. Tit. iii. 3 — 7. 
Acts xxvi. 17, 18. John iii. 14—18, 36. Isa. xlv. 22. Iv. 1—7. 

Objec. VI« " The effectual calling, regeneration, or conver- 
" sion of men to Christ, by mere moral suasion, exceedingly glo- 
" rifles all the perfections of God. He thus, in infinite wisdom, 
" deals with reasonable men by precepts, promises, and threat- 
" enings suited to their rational powers. With unblemished 
" candour he calls all men to repent and be saved, if they will. 
" In infinite equity, he punishes men only for the sins which 
" they could have avoided. Thus the glory of all that is good 
" redounds to God, and all the guilt and shame of that which 
" is evil, falls only on the sinners themselves." Answ. How is 
it for the glory of God, to be represented as if his almighty 
hands were so tied up, that he can do nothing effectually for 
the eternal salvation of men, unless their free will, which is en~ 



OV EFFECTUAL CALL1 JC 

■ i against him, deceitful above all things, and desperately wick- 
ed, assist and succeed his labours in his regenerating and sanc- 
t 'dying work ? How hath he the honour and praise of all that is 
good in men, when their free will alone must determine whe- 
ther despiteful blasphemy and redoubled damnation, or faith in 
Christ and eternal salvation, shall be the effect of all that he 
can do for and with them ? 2. Men's conversion by the al- 
mighty and invincible influences of God's Spirit, is truly and 
highly honourable to God. His ordinances, as intended, issue 
in the eternal salvation of his elect, and render multitudes use- 
ful to them on earth, Isa.lv. 10, 11. It encourages men who 
are convinced of their weakness and wickedness, to seek and ex- 
pect a thorough change of their 'nature from the almighty 
power and grace of God — While God, in the most affectionate 
manner, deals with men by his word, his attendant almighty 
influences enlighten, renew, and draw their hearts to himself, 
Psalm ex. 2, 3. Phil. iii. 12. Gal. i. 15, 16. 1 Thess. i. 5. ii. 13. 
— Thus all the conditional declarations of the gospel, and the 
salvation of the elect only, are harmoniously accomplished, 
Acts x. 43. v. 31. Isa. liii. 10 — 12. — And reprobates are left 
with all their power of free will, and so are as salvable as our 
opponents allow any of mankind to be, if not much more so, as 
we allow that one, even the weakest act of faith in Jesus Christ, 
infallibly secures eternal salvation, John iii. 16, 18. vi. 39, 40. 
Markxvi. 16. — Nothing but disobedience to the law of God, in 
which the formal nature of sin consists, is punished, and wilful- 
ness in sinning, rendering crimes more heinous, draws on fur- 
ther punishment. No refuser of Christ is punished for any in- 
ability to believe or repent, but what he justified himself in — 
not doing as well as he might have done. 

The Holy Ghost, by his convincing and alluring, but resist- 
ible influence, deals with those that enjoy the gospel, — and es- 
pecially with elect men before their union to Christ. But, in 
the time of love, appointed in the purpose and covenant of God, 
He, by his almighty and invincible influences, in the declara- 
tions of his law applied to their consciences, effectually con- 
vinces his elect of the divine authority, indispensable obligation, 
spirituality, holiness, righteousness, goodness, and inconceivable 
extent of its precepts, and of the import, equity, and faithful- 
ness of its threatenings, — and by this means convinces them of 
their sins in heart and life, and of the equity, certainty, dread- 
ful nature, and eternal duration of their deserved punishment, 
— so as to fill them with shame and fear, and cut off all their 
hopes of happiness by their own good works ; and fixing upon 
them the infamous characters under which men are invited to 
Christ in the gospel promises and declarations, Isa. lv. 2, 7. 
xlvi. 12. Prov. i. 22. ix. 4. Lukexix. 10. Matt. ix. 13. 1 Tim. 



536 OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 

i. 15. Hos. xiii. 9. Ezek. xxxvi. 25 — 27. charges and urges 
them to believe on him as their offered Saviour, John xvi. 9 — 
12. Rom. vii. 7 — 13. iii. 19 — 22. Gal. iii. 24. Acts ii. 37, 38. xvi. 
30, 31. 1 John iii. 23. — And, by this same almighty invincible 
influence, in the declarations, promises, and invitations of the 
gospel, applied to, or impressed on their hearts, he manifests 
Christ, in his person, offices, relations, righteousness, and pur- 
chased redemption,' — as infinitely excellent, all-sufficient, and 
exactly suited to their case, and by God appointed, presented, 
and offered unto them, under those very infamous characters 
which the law had fixed upon them ; and. in this manifestation 
of Christ, he conveys him and all his fulness in the promise into 
their heart, that, as a prophet, and made of God to them wis- 
dom, he may fill their understanding with spiritual light and 
knowledge, — as a priest, and made of God unto them righteous- 
ness, he may purify and quiet their awakened conscience, — and 
as a king, and made of God unto them sanctifrcation and redemp- 
tion, he may deliver them from sinful slavery, subdue, renew, and 
rule in their will ; — and that as an infinitely lovely, gracious, 
necessary, and suitable Husband and Saviour, he may change, 
conquer, captivate, and for ever bind their affections to himself, - 
Gal. i. 15, 16. John vi. 39, 40. .Thus they are made partakers of 
Christ, apprehended by, and united to him, Heb. iii. 14. Rom. 
vii. 4. Hos. ii. 19, 20. Isa. liv. 5. Phil. iii. 12. This act of the 
Holy Ghost in thus manifesting and conveying Christ and his 
fulness into our soul, is at once an uniting, justifying v adopting, 
and regenerating act. — And the word of the gospel, in which he 
acts, is, as it were, Christ's marriage-vow, the sentence of justi- 
fication, the adopting deed, and the seed of the new nature, — 
or mean by which it is conveyed into the soul, — which, in the 
whole, is a mere patient, experiencing the exceeding greatness of 
the power and grace of God, Eph. i. 18 — 20. ii. 4 — 10. Psalm 
ex. 3. Tit. iii. 5 — 7. Matt. xvi. 17. John i. 13. iii. 3, 5, 6, 8. 
1 John iii. 1, 9. v. 18. 1 Pet. i. 3, 23. Col. iii. 1-1, 12. Ezek. xi. 
19, 20. xxxvi. 25 — 27. Jer. xxxii. 40- 

Communion with Christ is the immediate effect of this unit- 
ing act of the Holy Ghost in our effectual calling, Heb. iii.. 14. 
Song ii. 16. This communion is either, 1. Of mutual interest 
in one another, and what belongs to each, Song ii. 16. Isa. liv. 
5. Zech. xiii. 9. 1 Cor. iii. 22. 2. Of mutual communication 
one to another, John i. 14,16. Prov. xxiii. 16. Psalm lv. 22. 
1 Pet. v. 7. 3. Of mutual intercourse, Song ii. 14. viii. 13. 
Psalm 1. 15. xci. 15. lxxxv. 8. cxviii. 28. Isa. lviii. 9 lxv. 24. 
Phil. iv. 6. Zech. xiii. 9. — Thus, in virtue of union to, and 
communion with Christ, our relative and real state are com- 
pletely changed in a moment. By his uniting himself to us as 



OF EFFECTUAL CALLING. 

the Lord our righteousness, and die end of die law for righte- 
ousness, we obtain justification, and have our whole relation to 
the.law as a broken covenant binding on us, perfectly dissolved 
Isa. xiv. 24,25. Acts xiii. 38, 39. Rom. iii. 21, 22, 24. vi. M-' 
mi. 4. viii. 1, 4, 33, 34. x. 4. Gal. iv. 4, 5. iii. 13. ii. 16—20. 
2 Cor. v. 21. By his uniting himself to us as our everlasting 
Father and elder Brother, we obtain adoption, Isa. ix. 6. Heb. ii. 
13. Gal. iii. 26. Rom. viii. 17. John i. 12. xx. 17. Jer. iii. 4, 19. 
By his uniting himself, the only begotten Son of God made 
flesh, to us as a quickening Spirit, full of grace and truth, and 
made of God to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and 
redemption, we obtain regeneration, new creation, spiritual re- 
surrection, or renovation after the image of God, John xi. 25, 
i. 14, 16. 1 Cor. xv. 45— 49. i. 30. 2 Cor. v. 17- Gal. vi. 15. 
Eph. ii. 1, 5, 10. Col. ii. 11, 12, 13. iii. 10, 11.— In his whole 
work of convincing men's conscience, enlightening their mind, 
and renewing their will, the Holy Ghost forms men for receiv- 
ing and resting upon Christ as offered in the gospel, in which he 
and his fulness are conveyed into their hearts, and hence they 
are no sooner apprehended and quickened by him, than their 
soul, upon God's own testimony and giving promise, .believes 
God's report concerning him, receives him, and unites itself 
with him as offered in the gospel, John xvi. 9 — 12. Isa. Iv 
1—7. John vi. 37, 44, 45, 63, 65. vii. 37, 38. 2 Cor. v. 14 — 21 . 
Acts xxvi. 18. Jer. xxxi. 18. Phil. i. 29. ii. 12, 13. — By virtue 
of this union to, and communion with Christ, our spiritual con- 
dition is also gradually changed and perfected. By union to, 
and fellowship with him, as our quickening and sanctifying Head, 
we obtain our gradual sanctification of nature and life, 1 Cor. i. 2. 
John i. 16. Acts xxvi. 18. 2 Cor. iii. 18. Col. ii. 10, 19. Eph. iv- 
15, 16. — By our union to, and fellowship with him, as the Lord 
our righteousness, mean of fellowship with the Father, and 
Treasurv of all blessings, we obtain spiritual comfort, Heb. iv. 
14__16.'x. 19—22. John xiv.— xvi. Isa. xi. 10- xii. 1—6. Phil, 
iii. 3. iv. 4. Rom. v. 1 — 11. By union to, and fellowship with 
him, as the Conqueror of death, the risen and exalted Saviour, 
who hath all power in heaven and earth, we obtain our eternal 
glorification, Rev. i. 18. xiv. 13. Hos. xiii. 14. Isa. xxv. 8. Ix. 
19, 20. xxvi. 19. John xiv. 2, 3, 19. xvii. 24. Rom. viii. 1, 11, 
17. Col. iii. 3,4. Rev- iii. 21. 

Reflect. Have I indeed been called of God with this holy, 
this high and heavenly calling, and spiritually united to the all- 
precious Redeemer ? Can I appeal to himself, that he is my 

Beloved, and I am his ? God forbid that I should profess, 

should preach a Jesus Christ, that is not my oxvn. Let union 
with the Son of God, as .effectually made unto me wisdom. 



35S OF JUSTIFICATION. 

righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, be the root, 

the foundation of all my religion -Am I indeed crucified 

with Christ, aud yet live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ? 
And is the life which I live in the flesh, by the faith of the 
Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me ?— — O 
wonder ! wonder ! wonder ! — an espousing God, and I the ugly, 
wicked, worthless bride ! 



CHAP. II. 

Of Justification. 

JUSTIFICATION, in Scripture, never means the making of 
persons inherently holy and righteous, but the holding and de- 
claring them righteous, as in a court of judgment. 1. In this 
sense the Hebrew hatsuik and the Greek dikaioun, which we 
render to justify, are taken, Exod. xxiii. 7. Deut. xxv. 1. Prov. 
xvii. 15. I Kings viii. 32. Isa. 1. 8. liii. 11; xlv. 24, 25. Psalm 
cxliii. 2. Job xxvii. 5. 2 Sam. xv. 4. Psalm lxxxii. 3. Gen. 

xliv. 16. Luke x. 29. xvi. 15. xviii. 14. Matt. xii. 37. Rom. 

ii. 13. iii. 4, 20, 24, 28, 30. iv. 2, 5, 25. v. 1, 9, 16, 18. vi. 7. 
viii. 30, 33, 34. Gal. ii. 16, \7- iii. 11, 24. v. 4. Tit. iii. 7. 

Matt. xi. 19. 1 Tim. iii. 16. John xvi. 10. James ii. 22 — 25 

Now, wherever, in these texts, Justification is opposed to con- 
demnation; — or is represented as criminal to justify the wick- 
ed ; — or wherever divine persons are said to be justified, it 
cannot mean making them holy or virtuous, but the holding or 
declaring them to be so. — Ministers justify many in publishing 
God's sentence of justification revealed in the gospel, and in 
stirring them up to manifest their justification by good works, 
Dan. xii. 3. Heb. — even as they save men, 1 Tim. iv. 16. 1 Cor. 
ix. 22. James v. 20. 1 Cor. vih 16. — Rev. xxii. 11. might be 
translated, He that is righteous, let him do righteousness still, — 
or be justified still, i- e. continue fixed in his justified state, and 
by good works more and more manifest to other men, and to 
his own conscience, that he is justified before God, 1 John ii. 29. 
iii. 7. James ii. 22 — 25. 2., This also appears from the scrip- 
tural representations of justification, or of pardon of sin, a 
leading ingredient in it, — as a reconcilement, — a receiving the 
atonement, Rom. v. 3 — 11.; not coming into judgment ox con- 
demnation, John v. 24. Rom. viii. 1 — 33. God's blotting out 
sin, Isa. xliii. 25. xliv. 22. Psalm li. 9.; not retaining anger, 
but passing by transgression, and casting sins into the depths of 
the sea, or behind his bad, Mic. vii. 18, 19. Isa. xxxviii. 17. 
Psalm li. 9. Jer. xviii. 23. Psalm xc. 8. cix. 14, 15. Jer. xvi. 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 35» 

17. ; not seeing sin, Num..xxiii. 21. Jer. 1. 20. ; not imputing or 
remembering sin, but forgiving, covering, removing and purging 
it away, Jer. xxxiii. 8. Isa. xliii. 25/Psalm xxxii. 1, 2. lxxxv. 
2. ciii. 3, 12. lxxix. 9. Rom. iv. 6. Isa. i. 18. Ezek. xxxvi. 
25. Rev. i. 5. Col. ii. 13. Heb. viii. 12. 3. Every thing rela- 
tive to justification is represented in the form of a trial in law. 
Here is a. judgment, Psalm cxliii. 2. ; a judge, Isa. 1. 7, 9.; a 
judgment-seat, Heb. iv- 16. Isa. xxx. 18.; a guilty pannel, Rom. 
iii. 19- ; an accusing law, conscience, and devil, John v. 45. 
Rom. ii. 15. Psalm cix. 6. Zech. iii. 2.; a. charge or hand-wri- 
ting exhibited against us, Col. ii- 14.; a. plea of grace reigning 
terough Christ's. righteousness, Rom. iii. 24, 25. Dan. ix. 24. 
Eph. i. 6, 7. ii. 7. Rom. v. 16 — 21. ; the accused criminal be- 
taking himself to this plea alone, Job ix. 2, 3. xl. 4. xlii. 5 — 9. 
Psalm cxxx. 3, 4. Isa. liii. 4—6. Luke xviii. 13. Rom. iii. 
24—26. v. 11, 16—21. viii. 1 — 4, 33, 34. Heb. ix. 12—15. 
x. 1—14. 1 Pet. ii. 24. iii. 18. 1 John i. 7,9.; an advocate, 
who improves this plea before God, the judge, for the justifica- 
tion of the guilty pannel, 1 John ii. 1, 2. ; and a sentence pro- 
nounced by God, upon the foot of this plea insisted on, Job 
xxxiii. 24. Psalm xxxii. J, 2. Rom. iii. 21 — 26. viii. 1, 33, 34. 
2 Cor. v. 21. Gal. iii. 13, 14. ii. 16. 

Justification largely taken, respects as its object, either, 
1. Things, in which some particular act, or series of acts, is 
declared innocent or righteous. Thus God justified Job's re- 
presentation of him as more righteous than those of his friends, 
Job xlii. 7, 8. ; and counted Phinehas' zealous execution of the 
two impudent adulterers, for righteousness, Psalm cvi. 31. 
Num. xxv. 11 — 13. And David in a particular case pleads, 
that he would judge him according to his integrity or righte- 
ousness, Psalm vii. 8. xviii. 24. And the Israelites justified 
themselves more than treacherous Judah, in being less wicked, 
Jer. iii. 11.; and the Jews justified the Sodomites, in being- 
more wicked than they, Ezek. xvi. 51,62. Or, 2. Persons, 
and that either, 1. Righteous persons, declaring them innocent 
of that which is charged upon them; as when God justifies be- 
lievers against the accusations of Satan; — or sustaining them to 
have that goodness of heart or life which they really have. 
Thus God commended Job, chap. i. 8. ii. 3.; and Moses, 
Num. xii. 7. ; and accepts every one that fears him, Acts x. 34, 
35. 1 John iii. 7. Luke i. 6. In this sense, good works justify 
men, declaring them fearers of God, James ii. 21, 24. Gen. xxii. 
12, 16. — If Adam had fulfilled the obedience required, he would 
have been still more formally justified on that account, declared 
a complete fulfiller of the condition of the covenant of works, 
and himself and all his posterity adjudged to everlasting happi- 
ness, Rom. ii. 13. Gal. iii. 12. Lev. xviii. 5. — In this sense, 



360 OF JUSTIFICATION. 

Christ, after he had fulfilled his Surety-righteousness, was jus- 
tified, i. e. judicially declared by God to have perfectly fulfilled 
all that obedience and satisfaction which his elect owed to the 
broken covenant of works ; and on that account, he, and they 
in him, discharged of the whole debt, and entitled to their re- 
spective shares of eternal life, Isa. 1. 8. 1 Tim. iii. 16. Rom. 
iv. 25. 2 Cor. v. 21. ; or, 2. Men guilty in themselves, through 
the righteousness of Christ, as their surety, imputed to them, 
Isa. xlv- 25. liii. 11. 2 Cor. v. 21. Rom. iii. 24 — 26. v. 16 — 19. 
viii. 3, 4, 30, 33, 34. — This justification originated from all 
eternity, when elect men were chosen in Christ, and their debt 
to the broken covenant of works was placed to his account, to 
be demanded only from him, Eph. i. 4. Heb. vii. 22. Isa. liii. 6. 
Its foundation was laid in Christ's finishing transgression, and 
bringing in an everlasting righteousness, answerable to all the 
demands of the broken law, Dan. ix. 24. 1 Pet. ii. 24. Isa. liii. 
4—12. — In his resurrection Christ was solemnly justified, as 
the publick Head and Representative of all his elect ; and in him 
the sentence lies ready to be extended to them in their respec- 
tive times of love fixed in the purpose of God, Rom. iv. 25. 
2 Cor. v. 21. 1 Tim. iii. 16. Isa. 1. 8. It is formally transfer- 
red to their persons in the promise and act of God, by which 
they are united to Christ, Rom. vii. 4. viii. 1, 2. Gal. ii. 16. 
2 Cor. v. 20, 21. Not only then, but afterwards, it is intima- 
ted to their conscience in the powerfully applied word of the 
gospel, Isa. xliii. 25. xliv. 22. Matt. ix. 2, 6. It is further mani- 
fested to their conscience, as well as to the world, by their good 
works, James ii. 21, 24, It will be most publickly intimated in 
the last judgment, Acts iii. 19. 

Justification, strictly and properly taken, is, " An act cf 
God^s grace, in zvhich he freely pardons all our sins, and accepts 
tts as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ 
imputed to us, and received by faith alone." — It is an act of God 
alone, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Rom. iii. 26, 30. viii. 
30^ 33. Gal. iii. 8. Luke v. 21. — as a supreme Lord, Law- 
giver, and Judge, offended, but satisfied, Gen. xviii. 25, 30. 
Deut. xxxii. 39. James iv. 12. Isa. xxxiii. 22. Heb. xii. 23. 
Psalm li. 4, 6. Matt. vi. 12. xviii. 23 — 34. Isa. xlii. 21. xliii. 
25. xliv. 22. Rom. iii. 24 — 26. viii. 32 — 34. Mark ii. 7. — It 
is ascribed to the Father, as he laid our sins upon Christ, ac- 
cepted his righteousness in our stead, and imputing it to us as 
our judge, acquits and accepts us, as in him, Rom. viii. 29, 
30. 2 Cor. v. 21. It is ascribed to the Son, as he purchased 
it with his blood, procures it by his intercession, and as ad- 
ministrator of the new covenant, issues forth the sentence. 
Matt. xx. 28- 1 Johnii. 1,2. Acts v. 31. Matt. ix. 2, 6. Isa. liii. 11. 
It is ascribed to the Holy Ghost, as he applies Christ and hi? 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 361 

righteousness to our person and conscience, intimates the sen- 
tence in his word, seals and attests it to our heart, 1 Cor. ii. 
10, 11. vi. 11. Tit. iii. 7. Rom. viii. 15 2 Cor. i. 22. v. 5. 

Eph. i. 13. iv. 30. Nothing but God's own free grace and 

love inwardly moves him to justify sinful men, Rom. iii. 24. 
v. 20, 21. Eph. ii. 8. Tit. iii. 5 — 7. He provided our surety, 
afforded the price, and in our stead accepted it : he freely of- 
fers and gives it to us in the gospel, — imputes it to our per- 
sons, and gives us faith to receive it, — all according to the ex- 
ceeding riches of his free grace, John iii. 16. 2 Tim. i. 9. Rom. 
v. 20,21. Phil. i. 29. Eph. i. 6—8. ii. 4—8. 

All the elect, and they only, are justified in their re- 
spective times of love, Isa. liii. 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11. Rom. v. 19. 
viii. 28 — 34. considered in themselves as ungodly, and con. 
•demnable to eternal wrath, Rom. iv. 5, 6. v. 6, 8, 10. Those 
that lived under the Old Testament were as perfectly justi- 
fied as these under the New. 1. The general promise of the 
covenant of grace ■ made to them, plainly included complete 
justification, Gen. xvii. 7. Psalm xxxiii. 12. Num. xxiii. 21. 
Isa. i. 18. xxviii. 16. xliii. 25. xliv. 22. lvii. 17, 18. Jer. xxxi. 
34. xxxiii. 8. Ezek. xxxvi. 25. Mic. vii. 18, 19. Exod. xxxiv. 
6, 7. 2. Several believers under the Old Testament, are 
expressly represented as justified, without any limitation, 
Rom. iv. 3. James ii. 25. 2 Sam. xii. 13. Psalm xxxii. 1, 2. 
lxv. 3. lxxxv. 2, 3. ciii. 3, 12. Isa. xxxviii. 17. Mic. vii. 18. 
19. 3. All the expressions of God's not retaining- his anger,— 
not remembering their sin, — not imputing it,— not beholding it,— 
but forgiving, passing by, covering, expiating, lifting up, cleans, 
ing, blotting out, and casting sin behind his back, — prove that 
their pardon was absolutely perfect, Micah vii. 18, 19. Isa. 
xliii. 25. xliv. 22. Psalm xxxii. 1, 2. lxxxv. 3. ciii. 12. Num. 
xxiii. 21. Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7, 9. And it, as well as that which 
Christian believers receive, is called aphesis as well as pare- 
sis, Matt. vi. 12, 14. ix. 2. Mark i. 4. Luke vii. 47, 48. Acts 
x. 43. Rom. iv. 6. Heb. ix. 22. 

Our justification is a most simple act, in respect of God our 
Judge ; but, as it respects the precept and penalty of the bro- 
ken law, and the correspondent change made upon our state, 
it may be distinguished into pardon of sin, and acceptance 
with God. Pardon respects the penaky of the broken law, 
removes the guilt of sin, frees from the curse due to it, on ac- 
count of Christ's satisfactory sufferings for it. — Acceptance 
on account of Christ's holiness of human nature, and obedience 
to the precept of the broken law, sustains us as fulfillers of it 
in God's sight, instates us in his favour, entitles and adjudges 
us to eternal life. This title to eternal life is of a local or 

3 C * 



3&2 OF JUSTIFICATION. 

judicial nature, such as a man hath to his purchased property, 
whereas that received in adoption is such as one hath to an 
inheritance, as his father's son and heir. — In this double title 
to eternal life, we are conformed to Christ, who, as an obe- 
dient servant, and as the Son of God in our nature, hath full 
right to his eternal glory, Both pardon of sin and accept- 
ance, which are included in our justifying sentence, respect 
our persons, change our state with respect to the favour of 
God and our own safety and happiness ; free us from all 
charges of guilt against, or demands of service to the broken 
covenant of works ; and are never preceded but followed by 
gospel repentance, Rom. viii. 1, 33. v. 16 — 21. Eph. i. 6. 
1 John v. 11, 12. Ezek. xvi. 62, 63. xxxvi. 25,31. Pater- 
nal pardon and acceptance are founded on, but not included 
in our justification ; — make no change in our state before 
God, but, only in our spiritual condition and comfort, and are 
granted from time to time, as our sins are committed and re- 
pented of, and our obedience of faith performed, and are pre- 
ceded as well as followed by true evangelical repentance. Pa- 
ternal pardon forgives our sins, as they are committed against 
the law as a rule in the hand of Christ, and expose us, not to 
God's revenging wrath, but to his fatherly anger and chastise- 
ment. Paternal acceptance respects not our persons, but our 
holy services, and introduces us to the enjoyment of God's fa- 
therly smiles and favours, 2 Sam. xii. 13. Matt. vi. 12. 1 John 
i. 7, 9. Psalm xxxii. 5. Rom. v. 10. Psalm xxiii. 

In our judicial pardon, all our sins, past, present, or future^ 
are forgiven, in so far as they are, in any sense, transgressions 
of God's law as a covenant of works. 1. The Scripture plain- 
ly represents them as all forgiven in our justification, Isa. 
i. 18. xliii. 25. xliv. 22. Jer. xxxi. 34. xxxiii. 8. Heb. viii. 12. 
Ezek. xxxvi. 25. Col. ii. 13, 14- Acts xiii. 39. Num. xxiii. 
21. Jer. 1. 20. Psalm lxxxv. 2, 3. ciii. 3, 12. Isa. liv. 9. Rom. 
viii. 1, 33. 2. The sacraments of the new covenant seal the 
remission of all our sins at once, 1 Pet. iii. 21. Mark i. 14- 

Acts ii. 38 xxii. 16. Matt. xxvi. 28.— If baptism did only 

seal the remission of past sins, it had best be delayed till the 
last moment of our life, contrary to Matt, xxviii. 19- Mark 
xvi. 16. Acts ii. 38. xxii. 16. Judicial pardon cannot be con- 
ditionally sealed, as it is bestowed upon us as an infinitely 
free gift, Rom. iii. 24, v. 16 — 21 Tit. iii. 7. — Nor is any pro- 
mise of judicial pardon, or of reconciliation, directed to justi- 
fied persons ; but they are supposed to be fully possessed of 
these benefits, Rom. viii. 1—4, 15 — 17,33, 34. Gal. iii. 26. 
3. In their spiritual union to Christ, believers are legally- 
reckoned to hav.e fully satisfied all the demands of the law, as 
a covenant in him, Rom. x. 4. viii. 3, 4, 33, 34. v. 6, 8, 16 — 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 363 

21. vii. 4. vi. 14. Gal. ii. 19, 20. 2 Cor. v. 21. Isa. xlv. 24, 
25. ; and are represented as dead to, or for sin, as he was, 
Rom. vi. 10, 11. Gal. ii. 20. 4. Being once spiritually united 
to Christ, we can never afterwards be, for one moment, sepa- 
rated from him. Nor, being one with Christ, can any of our 
sins stand chargeable against us, without supposing him to 
have left part of our debt unpaid, in his satisfaction, Isa. liii. 
6. Heb. ix. 12, 14. x. 10, 14, 18- 2 Cor. v. 21. Rom. viii. 1 — 
4, 33, 34. x. 4. 5- If God's redeeming love be unchangeable, 
they who are once instated in such favour cannot be, for a 
moment, liable to his revenging wrath, Jer. xxxi. 3, 20. 
xxxii. 39, 40. Isa. liv. 8 — 10. Rom. viii. 28 — 39. Zeph. iii. 17. 
John xiii. 1. xv. 9, 10. 6. If the after sins of believers be 
not so pardoned in their justification, as to prevent all legal 
imputation of them, the same persons at the same time might, 
or rather must, as believers, be dead to the law as a covenant, 
and not under it, but adjudged to everlasting life by the- co- 
venant of grace, Rom. vii. 4. vi. 14. viii. 2. John vi. 40. 
1 John v. 10, 12. ; and yet, as alway sinning, be alive to, and 
under the law as a covenant, and liable to God's revenging 
and eternal wrath, Ezek. xviii. 4. Rom. ii. 8, 9. vi. 23. 7. 
Believers' full remission of all their sins at once, with respect 
to their legal guilt, not only corresponds with their complete 
translation from under the covenant of works, and exalts the 
free grace of God, which hath suspended no part of their legal 
pardon upon their future faith or repentance, but also power- 
fully excites and promotes their most earnest and persevering 
study of gospel holiness, Luke vii. 42 — 47. i. 74, 75. Psalm 
cxvi. 16. cxix. 32. 2 Cor. vii. 1. Heb. xii. 28. 

Objec. I. " Believers' after sins cannot be pardoned in their 
w justification, as they cannot be blotted out, and not remem- 
" bered, till once they have been committed, and marked, and 
" remembered." Answ. 1. Remembering' sometimes respects 
that which is present or future, Eccl. xi. 8. xii. 1. 2. If 
Jesus Christ was condemned and punished for, and absolved 
from, millions of transgressions before they were committed, 
why may not sins be pardoned, as well as satisfied for, before 
they be committed ? 1 Pet. ii. 24. Dan. ix. 24. 

Objec II. " Pardon is plainly restricted to past crimes, 
" Jer. xxxiii. 8. Ezek. xviii. 22." Answ. Past sins are parti- 
cularly mentioned in these texts, for the humiliation of the 
guilty persons ; but pardon is not restricted to them only. 

Objec III. " Confession of sin, repentance, and humi- 
«* liation for it, which necessarily follow the commission of 
" sin, must precede the pardon of it, 2 Chron. vii. 14. Prov. 
" xxxviii. 13. 1 Johni. 9. Acts iii. 19." Answ. 1. These texts 
do not relate to legal pardon of sin, but either to the re- 



364 OF JUSTIFICATION - . 

moval of outward judgments, or to fatherly pardon,— or to 
the publick intimation of pardon at the last day. 2. It will 
be hereafter proved, that, though a rage against sin, or at 
God's connecting fearful punishment with it, may precede 
judicial pardon, no truly evangelical repentance or humilia- 
tion can. 

Objec. IV. " Jf believers' after sins be judicially forgiven 
** in their justification, they ought not to pray for the pardon of 
" their sin, as Christ directs, Matt. vi. 12. Luke xi.4." Answ. 
1. They that are justified, but not distinctly assured of it, ought 
to pray for pardon of their sin in general, leaving it to God to 
grant what kind is proper. 2. Every justified person ought 
daily to pray for more clear and powerful intimations oi judi- 
cial pardon to his conscience, which may be called pardon, as 
well as the manifestation of justification is called by its name, 
James ii. 21 — 25. 3. Every justified person ought daily to 
pray for paternal pardon of his daily infirmities, James iii. 2. 
1 John i. 8—10. Eccl. vii. 20. Isa. lxiv. 6. 

Objec V. " We must forgive others, in order that God 
*' may forgive us our sins committed after our justification." 
Answ. 1. Our hearty forgiving others the injuries which they 
have done us, must follow after, and proceed from God's judicial 
pardon of our sins, Matt, xviii. 32, 33. Eph. iv. 31, 32. But 
our comfortable sense of that pardon frequently follows our be- 
ing, by his grace, enabled from our heart to forgive others, Luke 
vi. 37"- xi. 4- 2. We must forgive others in order to our recei- 
ving fatherly pardon. Matt, xviii. 35. 

Objec. VI. " The sinful scandals of believers regularly ex- 
" communicated from the church are bound, i. e. not pardoned, 
" — in heaven." Answ. 1. Excommunication deprives men of 
their visible membership in the church on earth, but doth not 
change the spiritual state of their person, and hence God's rati- 
fication of it cannot bind them over to his revenging or eternal 
wrath. 2. If an excommunicated believer died deeply penitent 
of the scandalous causes of his censure, without having oppor- 
tunity of absolution from it, could his want of ecclesiastical ab- 
solution exclude him from heaven ? Surely not. 

Objec. VII " Christ, by his continual intercession, procures 
*' daily pardon of sin to his people.'' Answ. But it is only such 
pardon as they need, 1 John ii. 1, 2. John xiii. 10. Col. ii. 13, 14. 

Though therefore the daily sins of believers, being exceed- 
ingly aggravated, richly deserve the eternal wrath of God, Rom. 
vi. 23. ; and while unrepented of, render them liable to his fa- 
therly chastisements, Psalm xcix. 8. lxxxix. 30 — 35. Heb. xii. 
6 — 11. Rev. iii. 19. — they cannot bind them over to his reveng- 
ing wrath, or any proper punishment. 1. Nothing can be 
threatened against them for their sins, that is inconsistent with 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 365 

the perpetual continuance of God's love to their persons, Psalm 
Ixxxix. 28 — 35. Isa. liv. 8, 10. Hos. xiv. 4. Heb. xii. 6 — 11. 
2. Believers are under no law which can condemn them to God's 
revenging wrath for their sins, Rom. vii. 4. vi. 14. viii. 2. Gal. 
iii. 10, 13. 14. ii. 19, 20. v. 4, 3, 18. 3. No possible condem- 
nation remains for them with God, John iii. 18. v. 24, Kom. 
viii. 1,33,34. 2 Cor. v. 21. Isa. xlv. 24, 25. 4. No person united 
to Christ can, for one moment, be liable to God's revenging 
wrath, without being bound to pay over again that satisfaction 
which Christ already paid to '•he full in his stead, to suppose 
which is most absurd and blasphemous, Rom. v. 1, 21. viii. 33, 
34. Gen. xviii. 25. Deut. xxxii. 4. Rom. ii. 2. iii. 5^ 6. 5. Every 
believer, being united to Christ, hath in him a righteousness 
meritorious of eternal life, Rom. viii. 3, 4. 2 Cor. v. 21. Isa. 
xlv. 24., 25. Gal. iv. 4, 5. Rom. vi. 10, 11. iii. 22, 24 — 26. v. 
16 — 21. How can he, under such a covering, be, lor one mo- 
ment liable to eternal death i 6. If the sins of believers render 
them liable to God's revenging and eternal wrath, then, if they 
die cleaving to some things sinful, which they apprehended to 
be good and lawful, the) must be damned ; contrary to 1 Pet. 
i. 5. John x. 27 — 29. xiv. 19. vi. 40. — No virtual repentance in- 
laid in their new nature can be more, effectual to preserve them 
from hell, than it is to prevent all liableness to it. 7. That 
righteousness on which their judicial pardon is founded, being 
infinitely' perfect and everlasting, the pardon founded on it by 
a just God, must also be perfect, uninterrupted, and eternal, 
Rom. xi. 29. viii. 1, 33, 34. Isa. xlv. 17, 24, 25. liv. 8 — 10. 

Objec. I. " Believers are required to repent, in order to ob- 
u tain the pardon of their sins." Answ. Yes, in order to receive 
fuller manifestations of their legal or judicial pardon, or to receive 
fatherly pardons ; — but never in order to obtain judicial pardon. 
The putting away of David's sin, on his repentance, 2 Sam. xii. 
13. doth not mean any removal of his liableness to God's aven- 
ging wrath, — but that God had removed that long before, and 
would not extend his paternal correction to the cutting off of his 
natural life, as he deserved. Part of the due correction is of- 
ten inflicted on believers, even when their sin is blotted out by 
paternal pardon, Psalm cxviii. 18. xcix. 8. cvi. 43- 

Objec. II. M If the sins of believers while unrepented of do 
** not render them liable to God's revenging wrath, there is no 
" need of Christ's intercession." Answ. His continual pleading 
his righteousness in their favour prevents all such liableness to 
God's wrath, 1 John iii. 1, 2. Heb. vii. 25. ; — procures further 
manifestations of his judicial pardon ; — and procures fatherly 
chastisements, and the proper removal of them in due time- 
Nay, his intercession will be necessary for them in heaven. 



366 OF JUSTIFICATION: 

Objec. III. u Maintaining that believers' sins do not render 
" them liable to God's revenging and eternal wrath, strongly 
" encourages them to carnal security and licentiousness."— 
Answ. 1. Maintaining the contrary mightily discourages their 
earnest following holiness ; for it represents them as loved by 
God with no more than a weak and fluctuating affection, and 
as ready to be ruined by some small mistake at last. 2. How 
is it possible for one who has any real experience of the new 
nature in believers, or regard to the Scripture, to think it so 
super diabolically wicked as to sin Because experienced grace doth 
abound ? Rom. v. 20,21. vi. 1,2, 5, 10, 11, 14. 2 Cor. v. 14, 
15. vi. 17, 18. vii. 1, 6. 1 John iii. 2, 3. iv. 9, 10, 16, 19. Luke 
i. 74, 75, Psalm ciii. 1 — 6. cxvi. 16. cxix. 32, 166. Heb. xii. 28, 
29. 3. It is most terrible to an heaven-born soul to be, by his 
sins, exposed to the temporary prevalence of indwelling lusts, 
rage of devils, hidings and frowns of God's face, and other fa- 
therly chastisements, Rom. vii. 14—24. 2 Cor. xii. 7, 8. Psalm 
xiii. 1 — 4. lxxxviii. lxxvii. 1 — 10. lxxiii. 2 — 19. xlii. 9, 10. 
cxvi. 3. cxliii. 1 — 7. Job vi. 4. ix.-x- 16, 17. Prov. xviii. 14. 
Psalm iii. vii. x. xxxv. xxxviii. xlii. liv. — lx. lxiv. cii. Be- 
lievers' justification, from the very first moment of their mysti- 
cal union with Christ, is absolutely perfect and irrevocable. 
1. It is a judicial act which admits of no degrees, Acts xiii. 38, 
39. Rom. viii. 1, 33, 54. vi. 14. vii. 4. Col. ii. 13. Jer. xxxi. 34. 
xxxiii. 8. Isa. i. 18- xliii. 25. xliv. 22. 2. It is founded on the 
imputation of an infinitely perfect and everlasting righteousness, 
Dan. ix. 24. Rom. v. 16 — 21. Isa. xlv. 24, 25. Jer. xxiii. 6. 
2 Cor. v- 21. Acts xx. 28. 1 Pet. i. 18 — 21. ii. 24. iii. 18. Rev- 
i. 5. v. 9. 3. All that are justified are perfectly freed from the 
law as a covenant, Rom. vii. 4. vi. 13. Gal. ii. 19. iv. 4, 5. v. 
18. 4. Nothing can be laid to their charge before God as a 
judge, Rom. viii. 33. Jer. 1. 20. Num. xxiii. 21. 5. No curse or 
condemnation before God remains for them, Rom. viii. 1, 33, 34. 
John v. 24. Gal. iii. 13. Psalm lxxii. 17. Eph. i. 3, 6, 7. Isa. 
xlv. 17. 6. God hath no judicial or avenging wrath to pour 
out upon them, Isa. xxvii. 4. liv. 8 — 10. lvii. 17, 18. Jer. xxxi. 

15, 20. Hos. xiv. 4. 7. They are instated in the favour of God, 
which is infinitely perfect and everlasting, Isa. liv. 8 — 10. xlvi. 
3, 4. Psalm xxxvii. 24, 28, 33. lxxxix. 24. 28, 33. cxxxvi. 
Mai. iii. 6. Rom. xi. 29. v. 10, 21. viii. 28—39. 2 Thess. ii. 

16, 17. 

Objec. I. " Believers cannot be perfectly freed from the law 
u as a covenant of works, without receiving a liberty of sin- 
«' ning." Answ. They are not hereby delivered from, but much 
more bound by the moral law as a rule of life in the hand of 
Christ, in whom they have much more abundant and affecting 
views of the infinitely evil nature and demerit of sin, of the ho- 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 3o7 

liness and majesty of God, of the excellency and authority of 
his commandments, and hence much stronger motives, ;is well 
as assistances, to holy obedience, than they could hav e under 
the law as a covenant, 1 Cor. ix. 21. Rom- vi. vii. 1 — 6. 

Ob j ec. II. M Believers, notwithstanding their justification, 
" continue at least in part under God's curse. Our first pa- 
" rents had it denounced upon them after they had believed in 
" Christ : — men, in every age> toil for their subsistence, — and 
" women conceive and bring forth their children with pain. — 
"" Their afflictions are called punishments, and proceed from 
" God's wrath or anger : and death is an enemy to them." 
Answ. 1. We have no proof that our first parents had believed 
in Christ, before God addressed his threatenings to them. Nor 
is there, in them, any curse denounced against their persons, 
Gen. iii. 16 — 19. 2. Believers' afflictions being of the same 
matter with those of wicked men, and often suffered in connec- 
tion with them,— and always procured by their own sin, and 
tending to its destruction, mav be termed a punishment, — while, 
to their persons, they are the invaluably useful discipline of the 
new covenant, purchased by Christ for them, Heb. xii. 5 — 11. 
Rev. iii. 19. Rom. viii. 28. 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. Isa. ii. 7. Hos. ii. 6, 
14. Psalm cxix. 67, 71, 75. xciv. 12. Prov. iii. 12. Job v. 17. 
3. From whatever indignation in God against their sins the 
afflictions of believers proceed, — his love to their persons as 
united to Christ is the principal spring thereof, Heb. xii. 6, 10. 
Rev. iii. 19. 4. Death hath an unfriendly appearance to be- 
lievers, but it is a real benefit to them, transporting their souls 
to Christ ; and hence, the more enlightened of them earnestly 
desire it, Luke ii. 29. Phil. i. 21, 23. 2 Cor. v. 4. 

This sentence of justification being the very reverse of the 
cm-se of the broken covenant of works formerly explained, — 
must be our legal life in the covenant of Grace, from which 
our temporal, spiritual, and eternal life, promised in that cove- 
nant, do proceed — It not only adjudges us to that real new- 
covenant life, but engages all the perfections of God, infallibly 
to confer it upon us — Let us therefore, with delightful won- 
der, observe how, through the operation of the curse on Christ, 
this justifying sentence operates on believers, in a manner di- 
rectly contrary to the forementioned influence of the curse on 
others ; and that, as all the dealings of God with the wicked, 
in time and through eternity, are but his execution of the curse 
on them ; so all his dealings with believers, in time and through 
eternity, are but the execution of his justifying sentence passed 
upon them. 

More generally, 1. Christ having fulfilled all righteousness 
under the curse» he received a sentence of justification as our 
publick Head, 1 Tim. iii- 16. Isa. liii. 8, 9. Rom. iv. 25. viii. 



368 OF JUSTIFICATION. 

33, 34. ; which, pregnant with precious blessings, infallibly se- 
cured our spiritual and eternal welfare, who are his elect seed, 
in a state of union with himself, Isa. liii. 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11. 
Rom. v. 10, 15. John x. 10. 2. This virtual justification in 
Christ, as our Representative, prevents every thing that could 
effectually hinder our mystical union to, and regeneration by 
him, Ezek. xvi. 6, 8- Acts ix. Philem. 11, 15, 16. 3. By it 
the perfections of God are infallibly engaged to make his pro- 
vidences concur in making preparation for, and promoting our 
spiritual union to Christ, and our receiving of influences from 
him, Hos. ii. 6, 7, 14, 18 — 20. Ezek. xx. 37. 4. This sentence 
being transferred to our person through our spiritual union to 

Christ, places us in a most delightful state. Christ having 

borne the wrath of God, Psalm lxxxix. 38. Isa. liii. 10. we 
are infallibly instated in his infinite and everlasting favour, 
Rom. v. 2, 10. Col. i. 20, 21. Isa.liv. 8 — 10. lvii. 19. xxvii. 4, 
5. Psalm v. 12. James ii. 23. — Christ having satisfied his Fa- 
ther's law and justice to the uttermost, Luke xxiv. 26. Isa. ii ii. 
10. Heb. ii. 9, 10. v. 7, 8. 1 Pet. iii. 18. ii. 24. Matt. xx. 28- 
John xvii. 4. we are solemnly consigned into the hands of in- 
finite mercy, that God may exert all his influence in promoting 
our happiness, Psalm v. 7, 8. xxiii. 6. lxi. 7. xxxi. 19. Deut. 
xxxiii. 27 — 29. Isa. lxiii. 7- — Christ having continued the butt 
of his Father's wrath, till all of it that was due to our sins was 
completely exhausted, Isa. liii. 6, 4, 5, 10. Zech. xiii. 7. Acts 
ii. 23. iv. 27, 28. we are set up as the marks of God's infinite 
love, that all its blessings may be pointed at, and conferred on 
us, through all eternitv, Psalm lxviii. 18, 19. lxxii. 17. Eph. i. 
3—14. ii. 4 — 10. Rom. v. 17, 18, 20, 21. Tit. iii. 5, 6, 7. — 
Christ having for our sakes become poor by the curse, 2 Cor. 
viii. 9. Matt. viii. 20. we, by our justification, have all his un- 
searchable riches, all the fulness of God, secured for us, Psalm 
lxxxv. 10 — 12. Ixxxiv. 11. ciii. 4, 5. xxxiv. 8 — 12. Phil. iv. 19. 
Eph. iii. 8, 19. — Evils from every quarter having pursued 
Christ by virtue of the curse, Psalm lxix. 1, 2, 14, 15. Isa. liii. 
4, 5, 8, 10. Psalm xxii. 1 — 21. our justification infallibly se- 
cures us from every real evil, and draws blessings on us from 
every quarter, Psalm xci. 10. ciii. 3. xxxiv. xxxvii. Job v. 
15 — 26. 1 Pet. iii. 13. Job i. 10. Rom. viii. 28— 30— The 
curse, having deprived Christ of his comforts, and made even 
his nearest connections distressful to him, John xix. 11. Mark 
iii. 21. John vii. viii. Matt. xxvi. 69 — 73. God, in executing 
his justifying sentence on us, must make all things work for our 
spiritual and eternal advantage, Rom. viii. 28. 2 Cor. iv. 1 7. 
xii. 7 — 10. Phil. i. 16, 19. Psalm cxix. 71. Isa. xxvii. 9. Mic. 
vii. 14. Heb. xii. 6—11. James i. 3, 12. 1. Pet. i. 7.— -More par- 
ticularly, — in this life, 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 369 

I. It operates on our soul. 1. The curse having separated 
Christ from much comfortable fellowship with his Father, 
Psalm xxii. 1, 2. Matt, xxvii. 46. justification opens our free 
access to the most intimate fellowship with all the divine per- 
sons, Heb. x. 19 — 22. 1 John i. 3, 7. Eph. ii. 18. iii. 12. John 
x. 7, 9. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. Hence, in the very moment of our 
justification, regenerating influences from God flow into our 
soul, and renew all its powers after the image of God, notwith- 
standing all that Satan, the world, and our inward corruptions 
can do to the contrary, Rom. v. 12, 15, 20, 21. vi. 14. vii. 4. 
Gal. ii. 19. vi 15. 2 Cor. v. 17, 18. And thus, in consequence 
of Christ's divine power and holiness, keeping his manhood per- 
fectly holy even under the curse, we, under the justifying sen- 
tence, through fellowship with Him, and his Father and the 
Spirit, have our primitive beauties of holiness restored, Eztk. 
xvi. 8 — 14. Psalm xlv. 11, 13, 14. Song i. 15. ii. 14. iv. 
1 — 5, 7. vi. 4, 5. vii. 1 — 6. 2. As, notwithstanding his being 
under the law, made sin, and made a curse for us, Christ con- 
tinued perfectly free from sinful defilement, and flourished in 
holiness, 2 Cor. v. 21. 1 Pet. ii. 22. Isa. liii. 9 — we, being jus- 
tified, and so no more under the law, but under grace, sin hath 
no more dominion over us, but holiness dwells, reigns, and gra- 
dually fills all the faculties of our soul, Rom. vi. 14. Col. ii. 13. 
John iii. 6. 2 Cor. v. 17. j our understanding is made light in 
the Lord, Hos. ii. 20. Eph. v. 8. 1 Cor. ii. 15. ; our conscience 
is made pure and tender, Heb. ix. 14. 2 Kings xxii. 19. 1 Tim. 
i. 5. Heb. x. 22. ; our will is inclined to every thing good, Deut. 
xxx. 6. 2 Cor. v. 19. Psalm ex. 3. Phil. iii. 7 — 9. ; our affec- 
tions are restored to their proper order and bent, Luke vii. 47. 
Psalm xviii. 2. cxvi. 1. Rom. v. 5. vii. 24. Psalm exxxix. 17, 
20. ; our memory is rendered retentive of good, and ready to for- 
get inj uries and trifles, Heb. viii. 10 — 12. Psalm xlii. 6. Gen. 
xlviii. 3. 3. The curse haying fixed on Christ, confined him 
in his humbled estate, till he had fulfilled all the condition of 
the new covenant, Luke xxiv. 26, 46. Heb. ii. 9, 10. v. 8. 
justification secures us in our happy state to all eternity, that 
all his purchased blessings may be fully conferred on us, and all 
our grateful, holy services completed, Rom. v. 8, 10. viii. 
33 — 39. 1 Pet. i. 5. Satan may tempt, but shall be defeated, 
1 Cor. x 13. Heb. ii. 14, 15. ; the world may flatter, or frown, 
but shall be overcome, John xvi. 33. 1 John v- 4. ; sin may 
struggle and prevail, but shall never reign, nor push to the un- 
pardonable crime ; and shall at last be completely destroyed, 
Rom vii. 23, 25. 1 John iii. 8— 10. Mark iii. 29. Psalm ciii. 
3. Mic. vii. 19. 4. Notwithstanding the increasing of his suf- 
ferings under the curse, Christ increased in wisdom and grace, 
and learned obedience by the things which he suffered, Luke ii. 

3 D 



370 OF JUSTIFICATION. 

40, 52. Isa. xiii. 4. xi. 2. Heb. v. 8. And, under the influence 
of our justifying sentence, our implanted holiness increases, and 
though simple in itself, Eph. v. 8. John iii. 6. is formed into a 
number of particular graces, and Christian tempers, which are 
exercised in good works, Rom. v- 1 — 5. Gal. v. 22, 23. 2 Pet. 
iii. 18- i. 4 — 8- Psalm lxxxiv. 7. Job xvii. 9. Prov. iv. 18. ; one 
of which ordinarily predominates in our heart and life, even as 
some particular sinful lust does under the influence of the curse, 
Rom. iy. 20. Num. xii. 3. James v. 11. 1 Kings iv. 30. Heb. 
xii. 1. Psalm xxx. 13. xviii. 23. 5. Notwithstanding Christ's 
increasing holiness of human nature, and his more and more as- 
siduous service of God, the curse increased his sufferings to- 
wards the end of his humbled life on earth, 1 Pet. iii. 18. ii. 
24. Phil. ii. 8. Heb. v. 7, 8, 26. ii. 10. xii. 23. Matt. iv. — xxvii. 
Luke iv. — xxiii. John ii. — xix — And, to reward our believing 
progress in holiness, our justifying sentence pours down special 
favours on us, Matt. xiii. 12. xxv. 29. Isa. lxiv. 5. Psalm xix. 
11. Isa. iii. 10. — To reward our receiving of the word with all 
readiness of mind, it secures further illumination, Isa. xxxii. 3. 
John viii. 32. Hos. vi. 3. — To reward our lowliness and ten- 
derness of heart, softening influences are bestowed, Isa. lvii. 15. 
Prov. iii. 34. — To reward our holiness of conversation, purify- 
ing influences are added, Matt. v. 8. 2 Cor. iii. 18. Rev. iii. 4 — 
To reward our care, to keep our conscience void of offence, and 
to maintain a prudent behaviour, further wisdom is granted, 
Dan. ii. 21. John vii. 17. Prov. i. 5. ix. 8 — To reward our 
faithful and steadfast resistance of temptation, — support under, 
and deliyerance from it, are secured, Rev. ii. 10. 1 Cor. x. 13. 
6. The curse having filled Christ's soul with most dreadful sor- 
row and anguish, Isa. liii. 3, 4, 10. Matt. xxvi. 37 — 39. Luke 
xxii. 44. Mark iii. 5. John xi. 35. xii. 27. ; justification having 
given us a legal right to every thing satisfying, we obtain con- 
tentment with our lot, Phil. iv. 11, 12, 18.; peace possesses 
our mind, Phil. iv. 7. Col. iii. 15. Rom. xv. 13. v. 1. ; joy is 
diffused through our heart, Rom. v. 1, 2, 11. Phil- iii. 3. iv. 4. 
Psalm xxxiii. 1. cxlix. 2. ; and full assurance of eternal life 
transports it, Rom. xv. 13. 2 Tim. iv. 8. Psalm xxiii. 6. lxxiii. 
26. xvi. 5 — 11- xvii. 15. 2 Cor. v. 1, 2. 2 Tim. i. 12. 

II. It operates on our bodies, 1. Asunder the influence of 
the curse, Christ, in his incarnation, assumed the likeness of 
sinful flesh, Rom. viii. 3. ; so, being justified, our body is for 
the Lord, 1 Cor. vi- 13, 15, 19, 20. ; its tendency to unfit our 
soul for holy duties is gradually subdued, 1 Cor. ix. 27. Rom. 
xiii. 11 — 14. ; and it will at length be freed from all sinful pol- 
lution, Phil. iii. 21. 1 Cor. xv. 44. 2. By virtue of the curse 
lying on him, Christ's body had no form nor comeliness, his face 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 371 

was more marred than any man, Isa. lii. 14. liii. 2, 3. ; — throJ§h 
justification our body is washed with pure water, and sancti- 
fie I, Heb. x. 2:- 1 Thess. v. 23. ; is no more under the domi- 
nion of sinful flesh, but its members consigned and fitted to be 
instruments of righteousness, — our ears to hear God's voice, — 
our eyes to behold his works,— our hands to labour in his ser- 
vice, — our feet to travel in his paths — and our mouth to utter 
his praise, Rom. vi. 11, 12. Phil. i. 20. 2Cor iv. 10, 11. 1 Cor. 
vi. 20. 3. The curse having inflicted fearful torments on Christ's 
body, Isa. liii. 5, 7. lii. 14. 1. 6. Psalm xxii. 14, 15. — Justifica- 
tion frees our bodies from all unblessed troubles, and renders 
those which we meet with profitable to us, Heb. xii. 10, 1 1. 
2 Cor. iv. 17. Isa. xxvii. 9. Job y. 17. Psalm xciv. 12. cxix. 
<37, 71, 75. Prov. iii. 12. 

III. It operates on our whole person and connections. 
1. Under the curse, Christ's manhood, as subsisting in his di- 
vine person, was subjected to bondage and oppression, Gal. iv. 
4. iii. 13. 2 Cor. v. 21. Through justification, our person is 
delivered from the dominion and slavery of spiritual enemies, 
and their prevailing power gradually decreases, John viii. 32, 
36. Gal. i. 4. Luke i. 74, 75. Rom. vi. 14. viii. 2, 3, 15, 37. 
Heb. ii. 15. 2. The curse having brought Christ into most 
fearful dangers and difficulties, Matt ii. 16. Mark iii. 6, 7. Luke 
iv. 29. xi. 54. xiii. 31. John v. 16. viii. 59. x.31, 39. xi. 53, 54. 
justification effectually secures believers from all real danger of 
hurt, 1 Pet. i. 3 — 5. iii- 13. Rom. viii. 38, 39. I salm xci. 4, 5, 
7. Deut. xxxiii. 26, 27. 3. The curse having rendered Christ's 
name a reproach, his labours unsuccessful or hurtful, and de- 
prived him of the necessaries and comforts of life, nay, of de- 
lightful fellowship with his Father in his ordinances, and turned 
his friends into enemies, Matt. xi. 19. Psalm xxii. 6. lxix. 20. 
Isa. xlix. 4. Matt. xiii. 14. viii. 20. xxvii. 36 — 46. Psalm lxix. 
19. Heb. v- 7, 13. Psalm xxii. 1, 2. Luke y. 8. Psalm xii. 9. 
John xvi. 32. justification renders us honoured and famed, 
Job. v. 21. Prov. x. 7. Zeph. iii. 20. ; prospers the work of our 
hands, Psalm cxxvii. 2. cxxviii- 2. xc. 17. Deut. xxviii. 6. 
xvi. 15. xxiv. 25. ; secures our outward provision, and blesses 
our basket and our store, Psalm xxxvii. 16. Matt. vi. 33. Isa. 
xxxiii. 16. Job i. 10. ; makes the ordinances of the gospel edi- 
fying to us, Isa. xii. 3. Psalm lxxxiv. 9, 10. ; our relations 
comfortable, and our enemies useful to us, Psalm cxxviii. 1 — 3. 
cxliv. 12. cxxxii. 16. Prov. x. 7. Rom. viii. 28. 1 Pet. iii. 13. 

After this life, the justifying sentence will operate on be- 
lievers, 1. In death. The curse having made death a wrathful 
stroke to Christ, Isa. liii. 10. Zech. xiii. 7. it is a message of 
love to us that are justified, Psalm xxxvii. 37. Luke ii. 29. 



372 OF JUSTIFICATION. 

Phil. i. 22, 23. — The curse having excluded God's comforting 
presence from Christ in his agonies of death, Psalm xxii. 1, 2. 
Matt, xxvii. 46. — justification secures for us his supporting, if 
not comfortable, presence and influence, and transports our 
soul to his immediate fellowship, Psalm xxiii. 4. xlviii. 14« 
Rev. xxi. 22 — 24. Psalm xliii. 4. 1 Cor. xv. 28. The curse 
having exerted all its force upon Christ in his death, and made 
him expire under the dreadful pressure of divine wrath, Isa. 
liii. 4 — 8, 10. Psal. xl. 12. xxii. 14. Zech. xiii. 7. ; justification 
will, by death, put an end to all our troubles of body or mind, 
and introduce us into inconceivable happiness, Rev. xxi. 4. 
xiv. 13. Isa. lx. 20. 2 Cor. v. 4. Isa. lvii. 1, 2. Psalm lxxiii. 24. 
Christ's death being stinged by the curse, he met it with agony" 
and terrour, Matt. xxvi. 38. xxvii. 46. John xii. 27. Heb. v. 7. ; 
— but our death being disarmed and sweetened by our justify- 
ing sentence, we may meet it with composure and joy, Psalm 
xxiii. 4. Luke ii. 29, 30. 2 Tim. iv. 6 — 8. 2. In the removal 
of our souls to the eternal state. The curse having led Christ to 
the slaughter, and made him appear before his Father's tri- 
bunal, laden with the sins of all his elect, Isa. liii. 6, 7— justi- 
fication will then cover our sins, and make our imperfect obe- 
dience of faith to appear and be accepted, Rev. xiv. 13. Matt, 
xxv. 34 — 40. Under the curse, every sin imputed to Christ 
drew along with it its punishment, Isa. liii. 4 — 6. ; — justification 
will then make every act of our gospel-obedience draw along 
with it its gracious reward, Matt. xxv. 21, 23. — The curse 
having debarred Christ's soul from all deliverance, till he had 
made full atonement for our sin, and brought in an everlasting 
righteousness, Matt. xxvi. 39, 42. Luke xxiv. 26, 46. justifi- 
cation, through his atonement and intercession, secures the 
eternal welfare of our souls, and the readiness of heaven to 
receive us, 1 John ii. 1, 2. Rom. v. 17, 21. John xiv. 2, 3. 
3. In the separate state of our souls. The curse having sunk 
Christ into an horrible pit, Psalm xl. 2. lxix. 1, 2. — justifica- 
tion will place our departed souls on thrones of glory. John 
xiv. 2. xii. 26. Rev. iii. 21. Christ having had the cup of 
God's indignation poured into him by the curse, Matt. xxvi. 39, 
42. John xviii. 11. xii. 27. Psalm ex. tf. Isa. liii. 3, 4. we, by 
the justifying sentence, shall, at God's right hand, be filled 
with fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore, Psalm xvii. 15. 
xvi. 1 1. Isa. lx. 19, 20. The curse having surrounded Christ 
with ungodly men and devils, and appointed his grave with the 
wicked, Psalm xxii. 12. Isa. liii. 9. justification shall place our 
souls among holy angels, the spirits of just men made perfect, 
and chiefly with divine persons, Heb. xii. 22—24. Phil. i. 23. 
John xvii. 24. 4. In the condition of our dead bodies. The 
curse having shut up Christ in his grave as in a prison, Isa. 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 373 

liii. 8. Psalm xl, 2. lxix. 14. justification renders our grave a 
place prepared and perfumed by God for our security and rest, 
Isa. lvii. 1, 2. Job xiv. 13. — Some fruits of sin continued fixed 
by the curse on Christ in his grave, Isa. liii. 9, 12. Matt, 
xxvii. 65, 66. By justification we will lie in our grave, with 
all our sins blotted out, and wrapped in his everlasting righte- 
ousness, Mic. vii. 19. Isa. xxvi. 19, 20. — Even under the curse, 
Christ's body saw no corruption in the grave, Psalm xvi. 10. 
Acts ii. 27, 32. xiii. 34, 35. Under our justifying sentence, 
our bodies shall be dissolved in our grave, for their purification 
and glorious resurrection, 1 Cor. xv. 36, 42—45. Job xix. 26, 
27. 5. In our resurrection. Christ having, under the curse, 
with his visage more marred than any man, paid all our debt 
and fulfilled all our legal service. Isa. lii. 14. liii. 2, 3. Dan. 
ix. 24. 1 Pet. ii. 24. iii. 18. Matt. xx. 28. Tit. ii. 14. Eph. v. 2. 
we, under the justifying sentence, shall be raised in glory to re- 
ceive the reward, 1 Cor. xv. 41 — 44. Phil. iii. 21. Psal. xvii. 15. 
xvi. 10, 11. Dan. xii. 2, 3. Matt, xxv- 21, 23. Col. iii. 4. 
Christ having under the curse, endured desertion and ignominy, 
Matt, xxvii. 46. Isa. 1. 5, 6. lii. 14. liii. 3, 4, 7. Matt. xxvi. 
xxvii. our justification shall place us as his ransomed members, 
in distinguished honour, Matt. xxv. 33, 34. 1 Thess. iv. 17. 
Col. iii. 4. — God his judge having, through the interposing 
curse, appeared in terrible majesty to Christ, Psalm lxxxix. 38. 
Zech. xiii. 7. Christ our judge will, through our interposing 
justification, appear to us in the most delightful and engaging 
form, Job xix. 25—27- 2 Thess. i. 10. Heb. ix. 28- Tit. ii 13. 
— The curse having imprinted upon Christ its most visible 
marks of infamy and wo, Gal. iii. 13. Matt. xxvi. xxvii. — 
the holy fruits of our justification shall be proclaimed for our, 
and for Jesus' and for Jehovah's honour, in his redemption work, 
Matt. xxv. 34 — 40.— Christ having, by the curse, been pub- 
lickly condemned and executed, Gal. iii. 13. 1 Pet. iii. 18. Heb. 
xiii. 12. John xviii. xix. our justifying sentence shall, by Christ, 
be publickly proclaimed before all angels and men, and ordered 
into immediate and full execution, Matt. xxv. 34, 46. 6. In 
our complete and eternal happiness. The curse having shut up 
Christ for a time to lamentation, mourning, and wo, Isa. liii. 2, 
3, 10. we, as justified, having returned from the tribunal with 
songs and everlasting joy on our heads, shall be unalterably 
fixed in the highest felicity, Rev. iii. 12. 1 Thess. iv. 17 — 
The curse having for a time debarred Christ from his Father's 
presence and smiles, we, through our justification, shall be for 
ever with the Lord and see him as he is, — all our own, 1 Thess. 
iv. 17. 1 John iii. 2. 1 Cor. xiii. 12- xv. 28.--The curse fixed 
on him, having made God to take pleasure in bruising his own 
Son, Isa. liii. 10. Zech. xiii. 7.; our justification sh^U have its 



374 OF JUSTIFICATION. 

full execution in God's vouchsafing us an exceeding and an 
eternal weight of glory. Rom. v. 17, 21. vi. 23. Psal. xvi. 11. 
xxxi. 19. Zeph. iii. 17. Isa. lx. 19, 20. 2 Cor. iv. 17. Rev. ii. 
7, 17. iii. 4, 5, 12, 21. 

When we consider the infinite knowledge, equity, and faith- 
fulness of God the justifier, we must conclude, that nothing 
can be the ground of our justification, or justifying righteousness, 
but what is answerable to the importance of the sentence, Rom. 
ii. 2. Deut. xxxii. 4. Zeph. iii. 5. Gen. xviii. 25. Rom. iii. 
24 — 26. v. 21. But men's legal dispositions and their inve- 
terate enmity against the glory of God's redeeming grace, and 
the sole mediation of Jesus Christ, hath made them to stretch 
every nerve to corrupt this doctrine of a sinner's justification 
before God : and as if the one stone, which God hath laid for 
its foundation, were too narrow, or too weak to bear it, they 
have collected much dung, dross, sand, hay, and stubble, to 
support it ; which we must now remove. 

I. The new nature, which, by the Holy Ghost, is implanted 
in us in regeneration, cannot be the ground of our justification; 
for, 1. It is always imperfect while we remain on earth, 1 Kings 
viii. 46. Eccl. vii. 20. James iii. 2. 1 John i. 10. Rom. vii. 
14 — 24. 1 Cor. xiii. 12. Gal. v. 17- 2. Though it were perfect, 
it could not justify us, as it is not answerable to the whole 
demands of the law as a broken covenant, Matt. xix. 1 7. Gal. iii. 
10,12. Rom. x. 5. vi. 23. Heb. ix. 22. Adam had once a per- 
fectly holy nature, and yet was never justified by the law, even 
when its demands were infinitely lower than at present. Christ 
had a perfectly holy nature, and yet could not be justified, till 
he had finished his course of obedience and suffering, Heb. ii. 
10. v. 8. 1 Tim. iii. 16. with Johnxvii. 4. Isa. xlii.21. 3. As, 
in our natural formation, the curse in some respect prior, keeps 
us destitute of original righteousness, — the justifying sentence 
.which removes that curse, which is the strength of sin, must in 
order of nature, not of time, precede our implanted holiness, 
which is the beginning of that real eternal life, to which we are 
adjudged in justification, 4. We have our justifying righteous- 
ness, not in ourselves, but in the Lord, Phil. iii. 9. 2 Cor. v. 21. 
Isa. xlv. 24, 25. liv. 17. Jer. xxiii. 6. xxxiii. 16. 

II. Faith, neither as a habit nor as an act, can be im- 
puted to us for our justifying righteousness; for, 1. Faith, as 
an holy habit or good act, is obedience to the law, 1 John iii. 
23- John vi. 29. ; — whereas our justification is directly con- 
trary to a justification by the works of the law, Rom. iii. 27 r 
28. iv. 4, 5. 2. Neither the permanent habit, nor the tran- 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 375 

sient act of faith, can be that righteousness witnessed by the 
law and the prophets, which is not in, but unto and upon all 
them that believe, Rom. iii. 21, 22. 3. If our imperfect ha- 
bit or act of faith were imputed for our justifying righteous- 
ness, how could God be just, eminently just, in justifying 
us ? Or, how could boasting be excluded, Rom. iii. 26, 27. 
1 John i. 9. ? How could God justify the ungodly, and the 
reward be not of debt but of grace, Rom. iv. 4, 5. i — How could 
it be a righteousness revealed from faith to faith, Rom. i. 17. ? 
—Or, a gift of righteousness by grace, more effectual to make 
men reign in eternal life, than Adam's sin was to ruin them, 
Rom. v. 15 — 21.? 4. If our faith be our justifying righteous^ 
ness, why is it called the righteousness of God, as distinguish, 
ed from our- own righteousness, and even from our faith, Phil, 
iii. 9. 2 Cor. v. 21. Rom. iv. 24. iii. 22. x. 10. i. 17. ? Or, 
how does the obedience of one make many righteous, Rom. 
v. 19. Isa. xlv. 24. Jer. xxiii. 6. ? — How is it imputed to many, 
Rom. iv. 22 — 24. ? And how is it a righteousness in, and put 
on by the Lord, Isa. xlv. 24, 25. lxi. 10. ? 5. If our habit or 
act of faith be imputed to us for our justifying righteous- 
riess, — then God must account that a righteousness which 
does not answer the ten thousandth part of the demands of 
the broken law : — A very imperfect part of righteousness must 
be a sufficient foundation for the pardon of innumerable sins, 
and of a full title to everlasting happiness : — We must be jus- 
tified on account of that which is so imperfect, as to need to 
be pardoned : — God must receive the justifying righteousness 
from us : And justification must be by works, not by grace, — 
at least not by grace only : Men may glory in themselves :— 
than all which nothing can be more contrary to Scripture. 

Objec. " Faith was imputed to Abraham for his justify- 
u ing righteousness, Gen. xv. 6. Gal. iii. 6. Rom- iv. 3, 9." 
Answ. 1. To understand these texts of the imputation of 
faith, as an habit or act, for a justifying righteousness, is 
manifestly contradictory to the scope of the apostle in them, 
which is to prove that justification is by God's grace, not by 
the works of the law. 2. Abraham was justified many years 
before that act of believing mentioned, Gen xv. 6. xii. 2, 3. 
Heb. xi. 8. Rom. iv. 3.; and so it could not be his justifying 
righteousness. 3. Abraham's justifying righteousness excluded 
his obtaining the inheritance by the works of the law, Rom. 
iv. 13. 4. That which was imputed to Abraham for righte- 
ousness, is imputed to all them that believe, and so could not 
be his act of faith, unless we make him the Saviour of man- 
kind by that act, Rom. iv. 11, 22 — 24.; — but, it was the ob- 
ject of that act of faith which he embraced in the promise, viz. 
Christ and his righteousness, who is perhaps called faith, 



376 OF JUSTIFICATION. 

Gal. iii. 23, 25. ; as well as hope, 1 Tim. i. 1. Col. i. 27. Jer. 

xiv. 8. xvii. 7- 

III. True and evangelical repentance is necessary as an 
obedience to God's law ;— as a fruit of faith ; — as a part of 
begun, and as a preparation for complete salvation, Mark i. 15. 
Zech. xii. 10. Gal. v. 6. Luke xiii. 3, 5. It is necessary as a 
mean of attaining a comfort-Vole sense of judicial pardon, and 
as an evidence that we have received it, Psalm lxvi. 18. Ezek. 
Xvi. 62, 63. xxxvi. 25, 31. It is necessary to obtain God's 
paternal pardons, and remove his chastisements, Isa. xxvii. 
9. 1 John i. 9. Jer. xxxi. 18 — 20. iii. 12, 13. Prov. xxviii. 
13. But it is not necessary to obtain judicial pardon, as a 
ground of our justification before God. 1. Ou* faith, from 
which all gospel repentance proceeds, Zech. xii. 10. Ezek. 
xvi. 62, 63. in its first act, or rather in its very formation, 
completes our union with Christ, in whom we cannot but be 
justified, Eph. iii. 17. 1 Cor. vi. 17. Rom. viii. 1. 2 Cor. v. 
21. Isa. xlv. 24, 25. 2. Gospel repentance and love to God 
precede noted intimations of judicial pardon ; but they, and 
all other good works, are fruits, not the condition of it, Luke 
vii. 47,48. Ezek. xvi. 62, 63. xxxvi. 25 — 31. Hos. xiv. 1, 4, 
8. Isa. xliv. 22. 3. The admission of repentance as the con. 
diiion or ground of our justification, detracts from the illus- 
trious manifestation of God's grace in it, Rom. iii. 24. v. 15— 
21. Eph. ii. 7, 8. i. 6, 7. 4. If repentance be the condition 
of judicial pardon, none ought to apply it as offered in the 
gospel, till they be fully certain that their repentance is truly 
gracious, Rom. xiv. 23. Psalm 1. 16. Faith is not prerequired 
as any necessary qualification, but is the very reception or 
application of the pardon. 5. None can repent evangelically, 
while they remain under the law as a covenant, which is the 
strength of sin, 1 Cor. xv. 56. ; — nor turn to God with full 
purpose of heart till they apprehend him gracious and mer- 
ciful, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, Isa. lv. 7. Hos. 
xiv. 1 — 3, 8. Jer. iii. 4, 5, 12—14, 22. Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. 

Objec. I. " We are called to turn and repent, in order to 
u obtain the pardon of our sins, Jer. iii. 12, 13, 14, 22. Isa. 
" lv. 7. Rev. ii. 4, 5. iii. 19. Psalm xxxii. 4, 5. Acts ii. 38. 
" iii. 19. viii. 22." Answ. Turning, in the two first men- 
tioned and other like texts, at least, includes faith or coming, 
which receives pardon, Jer. iii. 22. Isa. lv. 1,3, 7. The three 
next texts relate to such as are in Christ, and only need God's 
fatherly pardon. That text, Acts ii. 38. merely represents 
that repentance is necessary in adult persons to prepare them 
for baptism, the seal of pardon. In Acts iii. 19, perhaps re. 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 377 

pentance means but a change of mind, as conversion is sub- 
joined to it. Or, repentance and conversion taken for the 
same thing, may mean our whole exercise of turning to God 
by faith and love. Besides, the pardon here mentioned may 
denote the declarative pardon published in the last judgment. 
Nay, the words have been rendered, Repent therefore, because 
of the blotting out of your sins. In Acts viii. 22, repentance 
includes turning to God by faith, as well as by grief for, and 
hatred of sin. 

Objec. II. " Many promises and threatenings of Scripture 
" suspend the pardon of our sins on our true repentance, 
" 1 Kings viii. 47 — SO. 2 Chron. vii. 13, 14. Prov. xxviii. 13. 
" Luke xiii. 3, 5. 1 John i. 9." Answ. The last of these 
texts respects believers and fatherly pardons, 1 John ii. 12, 13, 
14. All the rest immediately respect the outward happiness 
of the Jewish nation, which we readily grant to have been 
not a little suspended on their good behaviour. In Prov. 
xxviii. 13. Luke xiii. 3, 5. pardon of sin is not mentioned: 
but it is merely suggested, that repentance is an excellent 
mean of averting misery and receiving happiness. Nay, in 
Luke, no more but the inseparable connection between final 
impenitence and fearful ruin is declared. Now, though our 
wicked works be certainly damning, it will not follow that ou& 
good works will certainly save us, Rom. v. 21. vi. 23. Lev. 
xxvi. Deut. xxviii. Amos i. — iv. Ezek. xviii. 

IV. None of our own goob works can be our justifying 
righteousness. 1. The Scripture plainly excludes them from 
the least room in the ground of our justification, Job ix. 2, 3. 
Psalm cxxx. 3, 4. cxliii. 2. Rom. iii. 19, 20, 28. iv. 4, 5, 6. 
Gal. ii. 16, 21. v. 4. Phil. iii. 8, 9. 2. The imperfection of 
our best works renders them altogether unanswerable to the 
demands of God's law, 1 Kings viii. 46. Eccl. vii. 20. James 
iii. 2. Isa. lxiv. 6. Psalm xiv. 1 — 4. liii. 1 — 4. Rom. iii. 10 — 
20, 23. Nay, suppose they were perfect, they could not sa- 
tisfy for offences already committed, Rom. vi. 23. Heb. ix. 22. 
3. Our justification, including pardon of sin, and being wholly 
of free grace, excludes all human works from being the ground 
of it, Tit. iii. S—7, Eph. i. 7. Col. i. 14. Rom. v. 17—21. iii. 
24. xi. 6. 

Objec I. " David, Hezekiah, Nehemiah, and other saints, 
" plead that God would judge them according to their works, 
" Psalm vii. 8. Isa. xxxviii. 3. Nehem. v. 19. xiii. 14, 22.'* 
Answ. 1. None of these texts relate to the justification of 
these men's persons, that being completed long before ; but re- 
present their desire that God, as king of nations, and parti- 
cularlv of Israel, would manifest and reward, their innocence 

3 E 



378 OP JUSTIFICATION. 

or good deeds with some temporal favours. 2. These very 
men betake themselves wholly to the sovereign and great 
mercy of God for their eternal salvation, Psalm cxxx. 4. Neh. 
xiii. 22. Isa. xxxviii. 17. 

Objec. II. " Abraham, Rahab, and others, were justified 
" by their good works, James ii. 21 — 25." Answ. 1. James, 
who maintains justification, and Paul, who denies justification 
by works both mean the same kind of works. James treats of 
works, which manifest a true and lively faith, and fear of 
God in the heart, James ii. 14* — 25. Paul means works of 
righteousness, Tit. iii. 5. works required in God's law, Rom. 
iii. 20, 28. Gal. iii. 10, 11.; — good works, to which we. are 
created in Christ, Eph. ii. 10. But, 2. They mean very dif- 
ferent kinds of faith. In discoursing of justification, Paul al- 
ways speaks of the faith of God's elect, by which men put on 
Christ and his righteousness, live in him, and have him in 
them ; and which saves them, and works by love in an universal 
obedience to God's law, Tit. i. 1. Rom. xiii. 14. Gal. ii. 20. 
Phil. iii. 9. Eph. iii. 17. ii. 8- Gal. v. 6. "1 Tim. i. 5. But 
James speaks of a dead faith, a mere nominal faith, which 
worldly men have, and which brings forth no good works. 
3. They mean very different justifications- Paul, in his epistles 
to the Romans and Galatians, means only that justification 
of sinful men before God, in which he pardons their sin, in- 
states them in his favour, and gives them a legal right to ever- 
lasting happiness : and his scope is to shew guilty men, mad 
on being justified by their own works, how they may obtain 
true justification of their persons. — James never mentions jus- 
tification before God. Abraham was justified before God about 
sixty years before he offered his son, which James mentions 
as his justifying work. Rahab's receiving of the spies, being 
performed in faith, Heb. ix. 31. must have followed her jus- 
tification before God. — But he speaks of men's manifestation 
of their justification to the -world and their own conscience, the 
shewing of faith, which may be as properly called justification, 
as Christ's strength is perfected, i. e. hath its perfection mani- 
fested in men's weakness, 2 Cor. xii. 9. ; — and as men are, or 
become the children of God by their charity and mercifulness, 
i. e. are manifested to be such, Luke vi. 35. And indeed, the 
Hebrew tziddek properly means, to shew one^s self righteous, 
and tzaddik, ene that shews himself righteous ; — to which not 
only many Hebrew verbs of the third species, or Greek ones 
of the middle voice, have a similar signification ; and his scope 
is to convince self- conceited and sin-indulging professors, of 
the necessity of good works for manifesting themselves true 
believers, or in a justified state. 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 379 

Objec. III. " Though repentance and good works be not 
M conditions of our first justification, they are the condition of 
" our second or continued justification." Answ. 1. Our justifi- 
cation is indeed repeatedly intimated in this life, at death, and 
in tne last judgment. But neither scripture nor any experience 
of the saints knows any second justification, or fallibility of the 
fust. 2. Scripture attributes so much to our first justification, 
that it leaves no place for a second, Rom. iv. 6, 7. v. 1, 2, 9, 
10, 11, 17, 18, 19. viii. 1, 4, 33, 34 x. 4. Heb. x. 10, 14, 18. 
Dan. ix 24. 2 Cor. v- 2.. Acts xxvi. 18. xiii. 39. Col. ii. 10, 
13. John v. 24. Eph. i. 3, 6, 7. 3. Neither scripture nor ex- 
perience admits any other foundation of justification than that 
which is the ground of its first constitution, Rom. i. 17. Gal. 
ii. 20, 21. Phil. iii. 9. 1 John i. 7. ii. 1, 2. Eph. i. 3, 6, 7. Col. 
i. 14. 4. Ezek. xviii. xxxiii. do not relate to the justification 
of sinners before God, but to the Jews' temporal happiness in 
Canaan, as their immediate object. Rev. xxii- 11. suggests no 
repeated justification or progressive continuance in it, but the 
irrevocableness of our justification, and our duty to persevere in 
increasing its evidence — Nor is the right, power, or privilege \o 
the tree of life, ver. 14. any more than a manifest evidence of 
right to, and a meetness for, the heavenly felicity. 

Now these works excluded from the ground of our justifica- 
tion are not merely or chiefly, the works of the ceremonial law, 
for, 1 . The ceremonial law itself, and all obedience to it, were 
dying out, when the Holy Ghost so strongly decried all justifi- 
cation of sinful men by the works of the law, Rom. i. — x. 
Gal. ii. — vi. 2. If these works are only or chiefly excluded, 
why should the Scripture addressed to the Gentile disregarders 
of these ceremonial works mightily decry them in the matter of 
justification, Rom. ii. — x. Gal. ii. 5. ; and that addressed to 
the Jewish boasters of them so highly extol them, James ii. 
14 — 26. ? 3. The law, by the works of which no man can be 
justified, is that which stops every mouth, and holds all the world 
guilty before God, — that of which the doers are justified, — 
that which condemns covetousness, and gives the knowledge of 
sin, that which was in full force in the days of Abraham, — that 
of which the fulfilment would warrant boasting before God, — 
and which curses every one that continues not perfectly to fulfil 
all its demands, Rom. iii. 19, 20. ii. 13. iii. 27, 28, 31. iv. 13. 
Gal. iii. 5, 6, 10. 4. If only ceremonial works be excluded 
from our justifying righteousness, why did the Holy Ghost 
take such pains to convince the Gentiles of their manifold vio- 
lations of the moral law of nature, in order to introduce his 
doctrine of justification, Rom. i. ii. iii. ? 5. No reason can be 
produced against the justifying influence of ceremonial works, 



380 OF JUSTIFICATION. 

which will not equally militate against that of other human 
works. 

It is not merely external works, or works not performed in 
faith, which are excluded from our justifying righteousness ; 
for, 1. Justification is perfected that very moment in which we 
begin to believe, Rom. y. 1* iii. 28. Gal. ii. 16. No works, 
therefore, which proceed from faith, and so follow after our 
justification, can be the condition of it, — any more than a thief 
or murderer can be declared innocent, because after such a 
sentence, he so offends no more. 2. The best works of be- 
lievers are very unanswerable in perfection to the demands even 
of the precepts of the moral law, Isa. lxiv- 5, 6. 1 John i. 8 — 10. 
1 Kings viii. 46. Eccl. vii. 20. James iii. 2. Rom. vii. 14—25- 
3. Believers are not under the law as a covenant, by which men 
must be justified or condemned, — when they perform their 
obedience of faith, Rom. vii* 2, 4. vi- 13. viii. 2. Gal. ii. 19. 
iv. 4. v. 5. 18. 4. Believers, renewed in the spirit of their 
mind, renounce all their works from having any place in their 
justifying righteousness, Psalm cxxx. 3,4, cxliii. 2. Job ix. 2, 3. 
xl. 4. xlii. 5, 6. Isa. lxiv. 6. 1 Cor. iv. 4. Gal. ii. 16. Phil. iii. 
8, 9. 5. The noted instances of justification mentioned in 
Scripture, were by faith, in opposition to all human works. 
Rom. iv. 1— '6, 13. Psalm cxliii. 2. cxxx- 3, 4. xxv. 11. 6. All 
works performed by men, in obedience to any law of God, and 
particularly the good works of believers performed in faith, are 
excluded from our justifying righteousness, Rom. iii. 1 9, 20. 
x. 3 — 10. Eph. ii. 8 — 10. Tit. iii. 5. 7. If inward holiness 
and works performed in faith, were our justifying righteousness, 
—how could the righteousness imputed in justification be a 
righteousness without the law, Rom. iii. 21, 22, 24 — 26 ? — or, 
how could God justify the ungodly, and impute righteousness 
without works, Rom. iv. 5, 6. ? — or, how could the promises be 
of faith, in opposition to works, that it might be sure to all the 
seed, Rom. iv. 16. ? — or, how could believers have inward peace, 
or assured hope of everlasting happiness, before they had com- 
pleted the condition of good works performed in faith, Rom. 
v. 1 — 5, 10, 11. xv. 13. 2 Tim. i. 12. ? Or, how could any 
think the doctrine of justification could encourage licentiousness, 
Rom vi. 1, 2. Jude 4. ? 8. Why should the Holy Ghost so 
laboriously exclude mere external works, or works not per- 
formed in faith, which men never plead to be a sufficient justi- 
fying righteousness, Rom. xiv. 23. Prov. xv. 8. xxi. 4, 27. 
xxviii. 9. 1 

It is not merely perfect works, such as Adam performed before 
his Fall, which are excluded from our justifying righteousness 
before God ; for, 1. Why should the Holy Ghost so laboriously 
disprove the admission of such works as are not to be found on 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 38 i 

eArth, 1 Kings via. 46. Eccl. vii. 20. Prov. xx. 9. James iii. 2. 
Isa. lxiv. 6. vi. 5. Rom. vii. 14—25. Gal. v. 17. Phil. iii. 12. ? 

2. If only imperfect works justify men, why doth the Holy 
Ghost labour to persuade us, that our works are condemnable, 
in proportion to their imperfection, Isa. i. 11 — 15. xxix. 13. ? — 

3. How absurd to exclude perfect works, which fulfil the pre- 
cept of the law, in order to introduce imperfect works, which, 
as such, break the law, as our justifying righteousness before 
God, whose judgment is according to truth, Rom. ii. 2. ? — 

4. Paul, David, and other saints, renounced their own works, 
which they believed to be very imperfect, from being their jus- 
tifying righteousness, Phil. iii. 8, 9. Rom. vii. 14—25. Psal. 
cxliii. 2. exxx. 3, 4. 5. How can imperfect righteousness be 
the righteousness of God, — a righteousness in Jehovah,— fine 
linen, clean, and white, which renders men all fair, without spot, 
ujireprovable in God's sight, 2 Cor. v. 21. Isa. xlv. 24. Rev. 
xix. 8- Song iv 7. Col. i. 22. ? 6. How could God's justifying 
men, in an imperfect righteousness of their own, agree with his 
justifying the ungodly, — of mere grace, not of debt, and to the 
exclusion of all boasting, Rom. iv. 4 — 6. iii. 27. ? Performance 
of imperfect obedience under the broken law, would be an in- 
finitely glorious performance for us, 1 Cor. xv. 56. 

It is no less absurd to suppose, that only the merit of human 
works or men's conceit of it, is excluded from our justifying 
righteousness. 1. It was perhaps never imagined, that human 
merit could wholly exclude the manifestation of God's free 
grace. 2. No works can be admitted as to our justifying right, 
eousness, without supposing them to have at least a pactional 
merit. 3. The infinitely wise Spirit of God never so much as 
seems to exclude the mere merit of men's works, or their self- 
conceit of it, but always plainly excludes the work themselves 
from being our justifying righteousness, Rom. iii. 10, 16. Gal. 
ii. 16. iii. 10. v. 2 — 4. 4. How could the same works be our 
righteousness, and the righteousness of God ; the works of the law, 
and the righteousness of faith, as the conceit of merit is annexed 
to them, or not ? 5. It is not proud conceit of merit which is 
a violation of God's law, but obedience to the law, — good works, 
which mark us godly, and to which we are created in Christ, 
that are excluded from our justifying righteousness, Rom. iv. 5. 
Eph. ii. 8—10. But, 

V. The Surety righteousness of Jesus Christ, including 
his holiness of manhood, obedience of life, and satisfactory suf- 
ferings and death, must therefore not only be the meritorious 
cause or price of our justification, as it is of our adoption, sanc- 
tification, and glorification, — but that justifying righteousness 



382 OF JUSTIFICATION. 

which constitutes us righteous before God as a judge ; as will 
appear, 

I. From a consideration of that law, by or according to which 
alone roe can be justified. We were originally under the law of 
the ten commandments, and could not but be so. This being 
the rule of that moral relation, which is between God as a So- 
vereign, and man as his rational creature and subject, necessa- 
rily proceeding from the nature of God, and answerable to the 
nature of man, must, as hath been formerly observed, continue 
unaltered, while God remains a Creator, Preserver, and Go- 
ve rnour, and man continues his rational creature and subject. 
And nothing can constitute a man righteous, but what answers 
all its demands, Gal. iii. 10. Matt. xix. 17. — This law neither is 
nor can be abrogated* 1 . God hath never used any means tend- 
ing to abrogate it. No law is given that makes any thing sin- 
ful, which was at first required as duty ; or, that declares any 
thing lawful, which was at first forbidden as sinful. 2. Christ 
came not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it, Matt. v. 17, 18, 19. 
iii. 15. Luke xxiv. 26,46. Rom. viii. 3, 4. x. 4. Gal iv. 4, 5. 
Heb. x. 5 — 10. Psalm xl. 6 — 8. 3. The gospel does not make 
void, but establishes the law, Rom. iii. 31. viii. 4. x. 4. Isa. xlii. 
21. xlv. 24. 4. No obligation to endure punishment can ab- 
solve men from that of the precepts. To imagine that trans- 
gression can dissolve obligation to duty, or render criminals in- 
dependent on God as their moral Sovereign, — and that former 
injuring God or men, will warrant further injuring them, is 
most absurd. 

There can be no derogation from this moral law, — no relax- 
ing its demands with respect either to qualities or degrees of 
obedience. 1 . No such derogation or relaxation is ever hinted 
in Scripture, but the contrary, Matt. v. 17 — 19,20,48. xxii. 
37—40. 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. Rom. iii. 31. viii. 3, 4. x. 4. 2. This 
law being God's own representation of his holiness and righte- 
ousness to men, it cannot be relaxed while he continues the 
same. 3. If this law be rendered less strict and extensive, no 
standard of righteousness can be left. To bring it down to sin' 
cerity, would render it as changeable as the circumstances of 
mankind, at least of believers, are. If once the centre of all re- 
ligion become variable, the same thing that is good in one, may 
be bad in another, in the same station ; and the degrees of men's 
duty must alter as their inward tempers do. 4. What could 
produce a relaxation of God's law ? could length of time, or 
men's making themselves worse by their own fault, make God 
to hate that which he once loved, or to love that which he once 
reckoned sinful, — or make him to pull down his own law, 
that they might comply with their sinful inclinations ? 5. If 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 38o 

such relaxation could be effected, why did not God at first put 
Adam, his innocent creature, and put Christ, his beloved Son, 
under this easy law ? 6. It hath been formerly proved, that 
the covenant-form of this law is not changed ; and God hath 
verified it in the difficult obedience and dreadful sufferings of 
his only begotten Son, Rom. viii- 3, 4. x. 4. 2 Cor. v. 21. Gal. 
iii. 10, 13. iv. 4,5. 1 Pet. i. 18 — 20. ii. 24. iii. 18. Dan. ix.24, 
26. Isa. liii. Zech. xiii. 7. — Nay, this law cannot admit of accep- 
tilation, in God's taking that which is not fully answeiable to its 
demands, instead of a complete fulfilment. 1. God must always 
give sentence according to truth and equity, Rom. ii. 2. Gen. 
xviii. 25. Deut. xxxii. 4. 2. He hath fully demonstrated this 
in the unabated demands which he made on his own Son, as 
our Surety, Rom. viii. 3, 4, 32. Matt. iii. 15. v. 17, 18. Luke 
xxiv. 26, 46. Heb. ii. 10. v. 8. 3. God could not accept that 
which is dung, is filthy rags, for a perfect righteousness, Phil, 
iii. 8, 9. Isa. lxiv. 6 — Now, if the broken law admit of no jus- 
tification but by a righteousness fully answerable to all the de- 
mands of its precept and penalty, — nothing but the righteous- 
ness of God, in our nature, can justify us, Rom. iii. 19 — 22, 
24 — 26. viii. 3, 4. x. 4. Isa. xlii. 21 xlv. 24, 25. Jer. xxiii. 6. 
xxxiii. 16. Dan.ix. 24,26. 2 Cor. v. 21. Matt. xx. 28. v. 17, 18. 
Eph. v. 2. Acts xx 28. Gal. ii. 20. iii. 13. iv.4,5. 1 Pet. ii. 24. 
iii. 18. Rev. v. 8, 9. 

It is absurdly pretended, That the gospel is a new law, in 
which God, on account of the mediation of Christ, promises and 
offers salvation to men, on condition of their faith, repent- 
ance, and sincere obedience, which thus become our evangelical 

justifying righteousness before God. Indeed the gospel is 

called a law, and the law of faith, as it comes to us marked 
with the authority of God, and is granted to us for our instruc- 
tion, Isa. ii. 3- Mic. iv. 2. Rom. iii. 27- j but law doth not al- 
ways mean the declared will of a proper sovereign, binding his 
subjects to their due obedience : for inward grace and corrup- 
tion are represented as laxvs, Rom. vii. 23, 25. viii. 2. And that 
the gospel is no such new law as is pretended, is most evident. 
1- The gospel is represented as good or glad tidings to sinful 
men, which it could not be if it merely offered them happiness 
on conditions infinitely exceeding their ability, and contrary to 
their inclination. 2. The gospel is a manifestation of the ex- 
ceeding riches of God's grace. It represents the Father as 
abounding in love, grace, and mercy towards his enemies, John 
iii. 16, 17. 1 John iv. 9, 10, 16. 19. iii. 1. Eph. i. 3—8. ii. 4 — 9. 
Isa. xlii. 6, 7- xlix. 1 — 12. It manifests Christ the Son, in his 
person, God-man, in his gracious names, offices, relations, work, 
and fulness, for the benefit of sinful men, — his humiliation as 
the price, and his exaltation as the immediate cause of our 



o84 OP JUSTIFICATION. 

everlasting redemption, Matt. xx. 28. 1 Pet. i. 18 — 20. Isa. 
liii. 10 — 12. lii. 13 — 15. It abounds with promises, in which 
he, and all things necessary for their salvation, are freely offer- 
ed to sinful men, 1 Tim. i. 15. Isa. xlii.6, 7. Ezek. xxxvi. 25 
— 31. It is full of gracious and unlimited invitations and en- 
couragements to them to accept of him and all his fulness as 
the free and unspeakable gift of God to them, Isa. lv. 1 — 7. 
Matt. xi. 28. 2 Cor. v. 18 — 21. Rev. xxii. 17. Prov. i. 22, 23. 
viii. 4. ix. 4, 5. 3. Though the gospel provide for the honour- 
able fulfilment of the law, both as a covenant and as a rule of 
life, Rom. iii. 31. Isa. xlv. 24. Heb. ix. 14 — 17. 1 Cor. i. 30. 
2 Cor. v. 14 — 17. Tit. ii. 11 — 14. and connect our privileges 
with our duties to the honour of God's grace, Luke i- 74, 75. 
Psalm cxvi. 16. cxix. 32, 166. 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. 2 Cor. v. 14, 
15. vi. 18. vii. 1. 1 John iv. 19. iii. 2, 3. Rom. v. 21. vi. 1. Tit. 
ii. 11 — 14. iii. 8, 14. Heb. xii. 28. ; — yet the claims to eternal 
life by the law and by the gospel, are directly contrary, John 
i. 17. Heb. iii. 5, 6. xii. 18, 24. Rom. iii. 20, 24. iv. 4, 5. 
v. 15 — 21. vi. 23. xi. 6. Gal. ii. 16—21. v. 2, 4. 4. If this 
new law requires the same obedience as the old, it is unneces- 
sary. — If it requires a different obedience, we have one law 
of God against another, and that which is held imperfect by 
one law, is held perfect by the other. 5. If this new law 
demand no more than sincere obedience, such obedience is not 
imperfect, but as perfect as God's law demands. 6. What 
curse is to fix, or punishment to be inflicted, on the breakers of 
this new law, Gal. iii. 13. Psalm lxxii. 17- Ixxxix. 28 — 35. 
xciv. 12. Isa. liv. 8 — 10. Heb. xii. 6 — 11. Rev. iii. 19. Prov. 
iii. 12. 7. If we admit this new law, we must have a double 
righteousness to answer the two laws ; and that of Christ, which 
answers the demands of the old law, must be subordinated to our 
own righteousness, which fulfils the new and saving law,— con- 
trary to Phil. iii. 8, 9. Isa. xlv. 24, 25. lxiv. 6- 8. Either this 
new law must be framed answerable to men's natural abilities, 
and so can demand nothing but desperate wickedness and en- 
mity against God, Jer. xvii. 9. Rom. viii- 7, 8. Or, it must 
suppose them endowed with gracious qualities, and why not 
with ability to be perfectly holy, — as it is certain, the legal righ- 
teousness of Christ could purchase the one as well as the other. 

9. In the dispensation of the gospel, not mere sincerity, but per- 
fection in holiness is loudly demanded, 2 Cor. xiii. 11. James 

4. Matt. v. 48. 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. Col. i. 28. And the most 
evangelical Christians, who are fully persuaded of their since- 
rity, bitterly bewail their want of perfection, Rom. vii. 14 — 25. 
Phil. iii. 12 — 14. Psalm lxv. 3. xix. 11 — 13. Isa. lxiv. 6. vi. 5. 

10. Will this new law of sincere obedience accept of men's 
sincerity in worshipping dogs,' cats, leeks, onions, harlots, stocks, 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 385 

stones, consecrated waters, images, reliques ; or in murdering 
Christ and his saints, and blaspheming his name, — as their jus- 
tifying righteousness before God ? John xvi. 2. Acts xxvi. 9, 
10. 11. How, in consistence with his infinite holiness, can God 
enact a law which connives at every degree of sinfulness which 
is consistent with sincerity? Hab. i. 12, 13. Psalm v. 4, 5. xi. 
6, 7. 12. How could Christ die to procure a new law, which 
gives no small indulgence in and to sin? — Is he a Saviour of men 
in their sin ? — a Saviour of sin from the ancient opposition made 
to it by God's law ? — a martyr for sin to make that which was 
once held sin, to be no more so ? For where no law is, there 

can be no transgression, Rom. iv- 15. v. 13. 13. How could 

Christ's mediation procure this sin-indulging law ? If God's 
justice and holiness require him to adhere to the terms of the 
ancient law, — how could the end of Christ's mediation be to 
destroy that justice and holiness ? If God's justice required him 
to bring down his terms to men's abilities, how could the end 
of Christ's mediation be to redeem God from adhering to that 
which was unjust? 14. This new law mightily discourages 
men's holiness, and hinders their spiritual comfort. For, how 
hard to know, if we come up precisely to its standard of since- 
rity, without which we are in a state of condemnation ? And, 
if we go beyond it, who knows what may be done with our un- 
required supererogation ? 

II. If the covenant of grace made with Christ and his people 
be one and the same, as has been formerly proved, his fulfil- 
ment of its condition must be imputed to them, to render 
them righteous in their new-covenant state before God, as their 
judge, Gal. iv. 24. Exod. xxiv. 8. Zech. ix. 11. Matt. xxvi. 
28. Heb. ix. 20. xiii. 30. Rom. v. 12—21. 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22, 
45. It hath been proved, that, in this covenant, every thing 
has been undertaken for and promised that we can need, Isa. 
liii. 10 — 12. Gal. iii. 16. Heb.viii. 10 — 12.; and that all the 
promises of it with respect to us are either formally or reduc- 
tively absolute ; and that faith, repentance, and sincere obe- 
dience, are promised to us as God's free gifts, and not required 
as proper conditions of it, Ezek. xxxvi. 25 — 31. Jer xxxi. 
32 — 34. xxxii. 38 — 4.1. Hos. ii. 19, 20. Eph. ii. 4 — 9. Acts v. 
31. ; — and that the admission of any act or quality of ours as the 
condition, would destroy the whole form and grace of it, as it 
stands opposed to the covenant of works, Rom. xi. 6. Eph. ii. 
4—9. i. 3, 6, 7, 8. Tit. iii. 5. Isa. Iv. 1 — 4. Rom. iii. 24. v. 
\7 — 21. — It is also manifest, that dying infants are never cap- 
able of acting faith, repentance, or sincere obedience. — Further, 
if God give us faith and repentance, before we enter into the 
new covenant, why might he not give us the whole blessings of 

3.F 



386 OF JUSTIFICATION. 

eternal life, without any condition performed by us ? If we ob- 
tain them after we are in this covenant, how can they be con- 
ditions of our entrance into it ? — The Scripture never repre- 
sents the covenant of grace made with us, as purchased by, or 
founded on the death of Christ, but as flowing from the sove- 
reign will of God. Nor is it conceivable, how a covenant pro- 
mising eternal life to sinful men, so desperately wicked, on con- 
dition of their faith, repentance, or sincere obedience, could ei- 
ther be honourable to God, profitable to them, or worthy of 
having the death of Christ for its foundation, Jer. xvii. 9. Rom. 
'viii. 7, 8. Gen. vi. 5. Matt. xv. 19. — God's making this covenant 
with men, means that they are personally instated in it, take 
hold of it, and acquiesce in the whole tenour of it, Jer. xxxi. 
31 — 34. xxxii. 38 — 41. 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. 

III. In the new covenant, Christ and his people, in law- 
reckoning, are one person, he their Surety, and they his legal 
representees, 1 Cor. xii. 12. Heb^ vii. 22. Rom. viii. 3, 4, 
29, 32 — 34. Eph. i. 3 — 7. John xvii. 4, 6. Gal. i. 20. iv. 4, 5. 
The Hebrew hhhereb, Surety, means one that mingles him- 
self with others, or goes softly under their burden in law, Gen. 
xlii'u 9. xliv. 32, 33. Neh. v. 3. Prov. vi. 1. xvii. 18. xx. 19. 
Jer. xxx. 21. And the Greek engyos is one that gives hand, 
and engages to pay for another, Heb. vii. 22. Christ having 
become our Surety, all the debt which we owed to the broken 
covenant of works was charged upon him, Psalm xl. 6 — 8. 
Gal. iv. 4. Our sins themselves, and not merely the obliga- 
tion to punishment arising from them, were laid upon him. 

1. Scripture expressly affirms this, Isa. liii. 6, 11, 12. 1 Pet. ii. 
24. 1 John iii. 4, 5. — Thus he was made sin for us, being 
charged with all the sins of his elect, 2 Cor. v. 21. 2. The an- 
cient offerings, which represented him, had the sins of the of- 
fenders, for whom they were offered, laid upon them by the 
putting their hands on them before they were sacrificed. Nay, 
the trespass-offerings and sin-offerings had the very name 
Asham, trespass, and hhataah, sin, given to them, Exod. xxix. 
14, 36. xxx. 10. Lev. iv. 3, 8, 14, 21, 24, 26, 27, 29, 35. v. 7, 
8—12. vi.4, 17, 18, 25, 29, 36. vii. 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 18, 37. viii. 

2. ix. 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 15, 22- x. 16, 17, 19. xii. 6, 8. xiv. 3, 13, 
17, 19—31. xv. 15, 30. xvi. 3, 6, 9, 10, 21, 22, 25, 30, 34. 
xxiii. 19. Num. vi. 11, 12. viii. 11. xviii % 9, 22. xix. 9, 17. vii. 
xxviii. xxix. &c. Isa. liii. 6, 10, 4, 5, 8. Dan. ix. 24- Rom. viii. 

3. 2 Cor. v. 21. 3. The very ground of God's displeasure with 
men was laid uponChrist, in order to his removing it by atone- 
ment. Now, that could never be the mere obligation to punish- 
ment, which originates from God's own nature and law, — but 
their sinful transgressions of the law, 2 Cor. v. 18 — 21. Isa. liii. 



OF HSTll-IC ATION. 

6, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12. Dan. ix. 24. 1 Pet. li. 24. 4. That 
which is removed in our justification, was laid on Christ as our 
suretv, which is sin itself, as rendering us obnoxious to punish- 
ment, Heb. ix. 14. x. 18. Psalm xxxii. 1, 2. Mic. vii. 18, 19. 
5. If our sins themselves had not been legally charged upon 
Christ, he had been, in law-reckoning, innocent. And if so, 
how could his righteous Father punish him ? Or, how could he 
give his life a ransom for many, Isa. liii. 5, 10. Matt. xx. 28. 
1 Tim. ii. 6. 1 Cor. vi. 20. Rom. iii. 25, 26. Heb. x. 5, 10, 14. 
Rom. viii. 3, 4, 32, 33, 34. 2 Cor. v. 19 — 21. 1 Pet. i. 18—20. 

ii. 24. iii. 18. Eph. v. 2. Rev. v. 9. ? But this legal charging 

our sins themselves upon Christ, did not render him the blas- 
phemer, the sinner, &c. any more than the charging debt to a 
surety's account, renders him the prodigal contractor of the 
debt. Our sins continued ours, as committers or proper pro- 
prietors of them ; and were made his, only in respect of charge 
in law, in order to make satisfaction for them. 

It is most absurd to allege, that Christ bore our sins and sa- 
tisfied for them, merely upon condition of our fulfilling the new 
law of sincere obedience. 1. The Scripture never hints that 
Christ made satisfaction for men upon any such terms, but 
plainly suggests, that all those for whom he satisfied shall be 
saved, John x. 10, 14, 26 — 29. 1 John i. 7. Heb. x. 10, 14. ii. 
9,10. Isa. xlv. 1". 2. Christ could not satisfy conditionally for 
our sins, but upon the foot of a conditional decree of election, 
which hath formerly been disproved, Acts xiii. 48. Rom. viii 
30. ix. 15 — 23. 3. If Christ had satisfied for men conditionally, 
that condition must be either something to be given us for his 
sake, and so no proper condition at all, but merely one blessing 
preceding another equally free ; — or something produced by our 
natural corrupted abilities, and so certainly sinful, Rom. viii. 7, 
S. xiv. 23. Jer. xvii. 9. Gen. vi. 5. viii. 21. Job. xiv. 4. Prov. 
xx. 9. Matt. xv. 19. Mark vii. 21 — 23. Tit. i. 15. iii. 3. Eph. 
ii. 1 — 3. Gal. v. 19 — 21. 4. If our begun justification depend 
on some condition performed by us, it must be continued on 
the same ground ; and then, if free will afterwards misgive, 
perhaps in heaven itself, we must be again unjustified and con- 
demned to eternal wrath. * 

If Christ, as our surety, had our sins themselves charged on 
him, and he satisfied for them without dependence on any con- 
dition to be performed by us, his righteousness or satisfaction 
itself, not merely its effects, must be unconditionally imputed 
to us. 1. If his righteousness itself be not imputed to us, how 
can we obtain justification, reconciliation, adoption, sanctifica- 
tion, glorification, or any other effect of it ? How can we be 
justified, reconciled to God, Sec. if our offences still stand charge- 
able, and charged by God, against our persons and consciences. 



3H8 OF JUSTIFICATION. 

which must be the case, if his sin-removing righteousness itself 
have not, by imputation, taken their place between God and 
us ? 2. If Christ's righteousness be imputed to us only in its 
effects, it hath no other influence in our justification, than in 
our sanctification and glorification, of which it is the alone me- 
ritorious price- 3. If Christ's righteousness itself be not im- 
puted, there can be no imputation of it at all, as its effects, 
peace with God, sanctification, spiritual comfort, and eternal 
glory, are not, cannot be, imputed, but really imparted to us. 
We are not relatively and legally , but really holy and happy in 
these. 4. If Christ's righteousness itself be not imputed to us, 
some other righteousness must be imputed, as an infinitely 
righteous God cannot sustain and declare us righteous in 
his sight, but on a proper ground, Rom. ii. 2. 5. If Christ's 
righteousness itself, not its effects, satisfied the demands 
of the broken law under which we were held as offenders, 
that righteousness itself, not its effects, must be imputed to 
us, that God, as a righteous judge, may be satisfied with us, 
Rom. viii. 3, 4. x. 4. Gal. iv. 4, 5. 6. If Christ's righteousness 
itself be the ground on which he pleads for us, in his interces- 
sion, and we by faith plead for ourselves, itself, not its effects, 
must be imputed to us, Rev. viii. 3. 1 John ii. 1, 2. Heb. ix. 
24. vii. 25. x. 10 — 22. 7. If Adam's sin itself was imputed to 
us, the very righteousness of Christ must be imputed to us, to 
counterbalance that, and all other transgressions chargeable 
against us in law, Rom. y. 12 — 21. 1 Cor. xv. 21, 22, 45 — 49. 
1 " Now, if Christ, as our surety, be one with us in the view 
of God's broken law ; — if our sins themselves were charged up- 
on, and satisfied for by him, without regard to anv condition to 
be performed by us ; and if his righteousness itself be imputed 
to us, as our sins were to him, it necessarily becomes our jus- 
tifying righteousness ; and being fully answerable to all the de- 
mands of that law by which we must be justified, it leaves no 
room for any thing else, as our justifying righteousness before 
God, Rom. v. 16 — 21. 2 Cor. v. 21. Jer. xxiii. 6. xxxiii. 16. 
Isa. xlv. 24. 

IV. The Scripture, in an infinity of texts, represents that 
righteousness, which Christ fulfilled under the broken covenant 
of works, in our stead, as our only justifying righteousness be- 
fore God, Job xxxiii. 23, 24. Isa." xlv. 24, 25. liii. 4, 5, 6, 8, 
10,11,12. xlii. 21. xlvi. 12. liv. 17. Ixi. 10. Jer. xxiii. 6. 
xxxiii. 16. (which ought always to be read, He, who shall call 
her, is the Lord our righteousness,) Dan. ix. 24, 26 Zech. iii. 
4. Matt. xx. 28. xxvi. 28. John i. 29. Rom. i. 17- iii. 21—26, 
31. iv- 6, 11, 25. v. 10, 11, 12—21. viii. 2, 3, 4, 32, 33, 34, 
ix. 31, 32. x. 3, 4. 1 Cor. i. 30. 2 Cor. v. 21. Gal. ii. 15. 20, 
21. iii. 3, 14. iv. 4, 5. v. 2, 4. Eph. i. 7. v. 2, 25—27. Phil. 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 389 

iil. 8, 9. Tit. ii. 14. Heb. i. 3. ix. 12, 14, 15, 28. x. 10, 14, 
18—22. xiii. 12. 1 Pet. i. 18—20. ii. 24. iii. 18. 2 Pet. i. 1. 
1 John i. 7. ii. 1, 2. iv. 9, 10- Rev. i. 5, 6. v. 9. iii. 18. xix. 8. 

Nor are his holiness ot human nature and obedience of life 

less imputed to us, than his sufft rings lor sin. 1. The law as a 
broken covenant, by which we must be justified, demanded these 
as well as his sufferings for sin, Rom. ii 13. Gal. iii. 12. Heb. 
ix. 22. Matt. iii. 15. Luke xxiv. 26, 46. 2. Eternal life is never 
annexed to mere sufferings, but to holy qualities and services, 
as its condition, Gal. iii. 12. Matt, xix, ;7. Rom. x. 5. ii. 13. 
Lev. xviii. 5. Ezek. xx. 11, 21. 3. Mere enduring punishment 
is not a righteousness at all, as it doth not answer the com- 
mands of God's law, Rom. v. 19. 2 Cor. v. 21. And, in damned 
angels and men, is no satisfaction at all, as it doth not proceed 
from any cheerful regard to God's law. 4. That obedience of 
Christ, which is directly contrary to Adam's disobedience, must 
be the ground of our justification, and constitute us righteous in 
law, Rom. v. 19. Phil. ii. 6 — 8. iii. 9. Eph. i. 6. Dan. ix. 24. 
5. Christ never being under the broken law, nor owing it any 
obedience, for himself, but for us, all his obedience to it must 
be imputed to us, in whose room he fulfilled it, Gal. iv. 4, 5. 
Rom. viii. 3, 4. 6, Believers being united to Christ, and 
clothed with his righteousness, are not bound to perform any 
obedience to the law as a broken covenant, but merely to obey 
it as a rule of life, in the hand of Christ, Rom. vi. 14. vii. 4, 6. 
viii. 2. Gal. ii. 19, 20. v. 18. 

Objec. I. " If Christ's fulfilment of the broken law be 
" imputed to us as our justifying righteousness, then our holi- 
" ness cf heart and of life are rendered unnecessary.'' Answ. 
Holiness of heart and good works are necessary fruits and 
evidences of our justification, — and necessary parts of our sal- 
vation, as will hereafter be proved. But they are not necessary 
conditions of our justification, or of our entrance into a state 
of salvation : for, 1. Many infants are admitted to union with 
Christ, justification, and even heaven itself, before they can 
perform any good works, Mark x. 14. 2- No truly good work 
can be ptrformed by adult persons, till they be actually entered 
into a state of salvation, Rom. vii. 4, 6. Eph. ii. 10. 1 Cor. 
xv. 56. 3. Scripture represents salvation as founded only upon 
God's free grace reigning through the righteousness of Christ; 
and as an inheritance given to us, not purchased by us, Eph. ii. 
7,8.1.7,11,14. Rom. vi. 23. v. 21. viii. 16, 17- John x. 9, 
10, 15, 16, 26—29. Tit. iii. 3—7. Gal. iii. 18, 29. iv. 30, 31. 
4. If our justification or salvation depend at all upon our good 
works, it must depend wholly upon them, Gal. v. 2, 4. ii. 21. 
Rom. xi. 6. iv. 4, 14. 5. AH our good works performed in 
faith, suppose our preceding, full, and everlasting justification, 



390 OF JUSTIFICATION. 

and interest in eternal salvation, through Christ's righteousness ; 
and are not performed under that law, by which men are 
adjudged to eternal happiness, Rom. vii. 4. 6. vi. 14. viii. 2. 
Gal. it* 19, 20. v. 2, 4, 18. 1 Cor. ix. 21. 

Objec. II. " Though Christ's imputed righteousness justify 
•* us against the demands of the law as a broken covenant, we 
" must have a righteousness of our own to justify us answer- 
" ably to the demands of the gospel, as Christ did not satisfy 
" for our unbelief and final impenitence against it." Answ. 
1. We have already proved that the gospel is no new lazu, 
demanding duties from men. 2. If where no law is, there is 
no transgression, Rom. iv. 15. v. 13. 1 John iii. 4. ; — what can 
be sin against the gospel, that is not sin against the law ! 
Where doth God's law allow unbelief or impenitence, more than 
his gospel doth? 1 John iii. 23. Ezek, xxxiii. 11. 3. Christ 
as little satisfied for the other sins of reprobates, as for their 
final impenitence and unbelief, John x. 11, 15. Isa. liii. 5, 6, 
8, 10, 11. 4. He satisfied for all the sins of his elect, their 
impenitence and unbelief, which otherwise would have been 
final, not excepted ; and his blood applied to their conscience 
cleanses from all sin, Isa. liii. 6. 1 Pet. ii. 24. Dan. ix. 24. 
1 John i. 7, 9. 

Christ's surety righteousness being fulfilled in our nature, 
name, and stead, is ours in these respects. In consequence 
hereof, God, in the gospel promise, exhibits and gives it to us, 
in and with Christ himself, Isa. xlv. 24. xlvi. 12. liv. 13, 17. 
It is imputed to our person in God's act of uniting us to Christ, 
and is received by faith alone, together with, and in him, Isa. 
lxi. 10. 2 Cor. v. 21. Phil. iii. 9. Gal. ii. 16. — Imputation is 
the reckoning some quality, deed,' or suffering, to a person's 
account, that he may be dealt with accordingly. — It is either of 
that which he really performed or suffered himself, Gen. xxx. 
33. Psalm cvi. 31. 2 Sam. xix. 19. Acts vii. 60. Lev. xvii. 4. ; 
oris supposed to have done, 1 Kings i. 21. ; — or of that which 
was done or suffered by another, who stood in his room. — As 
the Israelites bore the iniquities of their fathers and kings, as 
Jeroboam, Manasseh, Num. xiv. 33. Exod. xx. 5. some have 
founded imputation on parental or magistratical relation. But 
here, though the bearers, as irrational creatures often do, share 
in the deserved effects of their parents and governours' sins, they 
are not thereby constituted criminals in law-retkoning ; and so 
there is no proper imputation at all. But, all proper impu- 
tation of that which is done or suffered by another, must be 
founded on such a relation between the doer or sufferer, and 
him to whom his deeds and sufferings are imputed, as consti- 
tutes them one person in the view of the law. Hence, when 
debts, sin, or righteousness, is imputed, the imputee becomes 



OF JUSTIFICATION. 391 

debtor, offender, or righteous in law-reckoning, Philem. 18. 
Gen. xliii. 9. xliv. 32. Rom. v. 12, 19. — It is therefore plain, 
1. That God, who is an infinitely exact judge, can impute 
nothing to a person, but for that which it really is in itself, 
perfect or imperfect, Rom. ii. 2. Gen. xviii. 25. 2. That the 
imputation of that which we do or suffer ourselves, is a mere 
legal charging that to our account, which was personally ours 
before : But the imputation of that which was owing, done, or 
suffered by another, in our stead, imports a legal communica- 
tion of it to us. 3. That the imputation of that which was 
our own in every respect before, as well as the imputation of 
Adam's first sin to us, imports strict justice ; but the imputation 
of our sins to Christ, in order to his making atonement for 
them, and the imputation of his righteousness to us, is of free 
grace, to the glory of God's justice. 4. That, in just imputa- 
tion, no persons can be judged sinners or righteous, who are 
not, upon sufficient grounds in law-reckoning, really such. 
5. That imputation includes no infusion of sin or righteousness 
into the nature of the imputees, nor any conferring upon them 
the rewards or effects of it. But it is a legal charging that 
debt, sin, or righteousness to us, which was in some respect 
ours before, that its effects may be applied or imparted to us — 
Only in consequence of such imputation could God inflict the 
punishment due to our sins.on Christ, or confer the blessings 
which he purchased on us, Isa. liii. 6, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11. Eph. i. 
3, 6, 7. 

It is not perfectly agreed, whether God's act imputing the 
righteousness of Christ to us, or our receiving it by faith, 
which are perfectly contemporary, be first in order of nature ; 
nor is either side without its difficulties. My poor thoughts 
are, 1 . That while we continue under the condemning sentence 
of the broken covenant of works, there can be no real habit of 
grace or act of faith, any more than perfect holiness or happi- 
ness, 1 Cor. xv. 56. Rom. vi. 14. vii. 4. viii. 2. Eph. ii. 10. 
Gal. iii. 10, 13. iv. 4, 5. 2. That God's circumcision of our 
heart, and writing his law in it, is the consequence of his par- 
doning our sins, Heb. viii. 10, 11,12. Col. ii. 13. 3. As in 
Adam all men die, so in Christ all his elect are made alive, 
i. e. God's imputation of Christ's righteousness issues in his 
implantation of grace in our heart, even as his imputation of 
Adam's first sin issues in his withholding original righteousness, 
in the formation of our soul, and in the subsequent corruption 
of our nature, 1 Cor. xv. 22. 4. That the beginning as well 
as the progress and perfection of our real eternal life, depends 
on the imputation of Christ's righteousness, 1 John v. 12. 
5. It is given us on the behalf of Christ to believe, Phil. i. 29. ; 
and we obtain precious faith through the righteousness of God 



392 OF JUSTIFICATION. 

our Saviour, 2 Pet. i. 1. 6. God's imputation of Christ's 
righteousness may as well precede the existence or agency of 
our faith, in order of nature, as. Christ's act of uniting us to 
himself, and God's act of regenerating us in Christ, may, in 
order of nature, precede that faith, by which we receive 
Christ and all his purchased salvation, Phil. iii. 12. Eph. ii. 10. 
2 Cor. v. 17. 7. Might we not safely say, that justification, 
as it is God's act, is in order of nature antecedent to our faith j 
and our faith is antecedent to it, as it is passively received into, 
and terminated in our conscience ? 

It is most certain that we are justified by, or through faith, 
Rom. iii. 22, 28, 30 v. 1. Gal. ii. 16. Phil. iii. 9. Rom. iv. 24. 
—Only the habit of faith can be concerned in the justification 
of infants ; but the act also in adult persons. — And as men, in 
their reception of justification, stand trembling before the 
judgment-seat of God erected in their conscience, — deeply con- 
vinced of their sinfulness and misery, there is often much 
confusion and an apparent diversity in their actings of faith, — 
some fixing their attention on the redeeming mercy of God,— 
others upon Christ and his mediation, — others on the gospel 
promises,— and ethers on the promised pardon and eternal life. 
But there is always a regard to the whole method of redemp. 
tion. God is discerned as merciful in Christ. Christ is viewed 
as the mercy promised, and as jhe Lord our righteousness. 
The promises are viewed and embraced as manifesting and 
offering his person and righteousness, and pardon and eternal 
life through it, as the free gift ot a gracious and merciful God. 
Thus, in our cordial persuasion of the applied promises, we, in 
one act, approve God's whole method of salvation, receive 
Christ and his righteousness, justification and eternal life 
through it, as the unspeakable and free gift of God in Christ to 
us, as guilty and wretched in ourselves. 

This faith doth not justify us, as a preparing quality, or as a 
condition even of the lowest kind. 1. It cannot exist in us 
while we continue under the law and its curse, which are the 
strength of sin. Nor is justification more subsequent to the 
habit and act of faith, than the commencement of salvation, 
in which faith is formed in our heart, Gal. ii. 16 Eph. ii. 8, 
9. Phil. i. 29. 2 Pet. i. 1. 2. Faith, as a disposing qualifica- 
tion or condition, would be a work of the law, and so under- 
mine and tarnish the free grace of God in our salvation. — But 
faith justifies as a receiving instrument, by which we cordially 
credit and embrace the word of the gospel, in which hrist 
is made over to us as the Lord our righteousness, and justifi- 
cation in him. It is not as it is an habit or act answerable to 
God's command, but as it has a receiving quality or agency 
relative to Christ and his righteousness, and justification through 



OF ADOPTION. m 

if, that it justifies.— This faith, as it is the door which Christ, 
in his almighty application of himself, makes for his own en- 
trance into our soul, might be called God^s instrument of justi- 
fying us, Rom. iii. 30. But it is more proper to call the gos- 
pel, by which, in spiritual manifestation, he conveys Christ 
and his righteousness, and justification and regeneration 
through it, into our heart,— •Corf'* instrument ; and to call faith, 
by which, in our crediting his giving promise, we, in one 
act, receive Christ and his righteousness, and justification 
through it,— -our instrument, Gal. ii. 16. Rom. v. If, Acts 
xxvi. 18. 



CHAP. III. 

Of Adoption. 

ANGELS are called sons of God, being made after his 
image, admitted into intimate familiarity with him, and hav- 
ing a kind of authority overjinferiour creatures, Job xxxviii. 7. 
and perhaps i. 6. ii. 1. But some take the two last texts to 
mean professed saints, as Gen. vi. 2. Matt. viii. 12. — In much 
the same respects, Adam was the son of God, Luke iii. 38. ; 
but some apply that text to Christ, who is the Son of God 
by natural, necessary, and therefore eternal generation, Psalm 
ii. 7. John i. 14. iii. 16.— Men are called sons of God, 1. 
Because they are created and preserved by him, Mai. ii. 10. 
Acts xvii. 25, 28. Heb. xii. 9. 2. Because they represent him 
as his deputies in civil government, particularly in that which 
was typical, Psalm lxxxii. 6. John x. 34 — 36. 3. Because of 
their peculiar relation to him, as his subjects or church mem- 
bers, Gen. vi. 2. Matt. viii. 12. Exod. iv. 22. Deut. xiv. 1, 

xxxii. 10, 11. Rom. ix. 4. Believers are sons of God in a 

very exalted manner: 1. By their spiritual marriage-union 
with Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, Psalm xlv. 10, 11. 
John i. 12. Exod. xxi. 9. 2. By regeneration, in which they 
are spiritually begotten or born in his image, by the renew- 
ing power of his Spirit, John i. 12, 13. iii. 3, 5, 6. James i. 
18. 1 Pet. i. 3, 23. ii. 2. 1 John iii. 9. v. 18. 3. By adopr 
tion, in which they who were by nature children of Satan, of 
disobedience, and of wrath, are, in consequence of the impu- 
tation of Jesus' righteousness to them for their justification, 
admitted members of his family, by a concurrent and absolute- 
ly gracious act of God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 1 John 
iii. 1 Jer. iii. 4, 19. 2 Cor. vi. 18- Eph. i. 5, John i. 12. Rom, 
viii. 16. Gal. iv. 6. 



394 OP ADOPTION. 

Aia, the elect, and they only, are in their respective 
times of love thus adopted, Eph. i. 5. Gal. iii. 26.— These un- 
der the Old Testament were God's children, Job xxxiv. 36. 
Psalm ciii. 13. Isa. lxiii. 16. Jer. iii. 4, 14, 19. xxxi. 20.; — by 
spiritual union to Christ, Hos. ii. 19, 20. Isa. liv. 5. Psalm 
xlv. 9 — 14. ; — by regeneration, Ezek. xxxvi. 26. xi. 19, 20. 
Psalm li. 10. ; — and in respect of adoption and spiritual heir- 
ship, Gal. iv. 1. Psalm xvi. 5, 6. xvii. 15.; — and as children 
they had fellowship with him, Gen v. 22, 24. vi. 9- xv. 1. 
xvii. 1. Lam. iii. 24. Psalm lxxiii. 23 — 26, 28. cxliii. 10. Heb. 
xi. 10. — Their adoption was as perfect as ours under the gos- 
pel ; — But the Lord used them as children under age. He 
prescribed to them their natural food, and what they might 
touch, Lev. xi. Deut. xiv. Col. iii. 21. He much concealed 
himself from them, Isa. xiv. 15. Matt. xiii. 17. The sacri- 
ficial tokens of variance between him and them, were yearly, 
monthly, weekly, and daily renewed. Canaan was but an 
obsc ire pledge of their heavenly inheritance ; and, though 
never to forget it in their prayers, they were sometimes driven 
from it.— —Under the New Testament, Christ, having as- 
sumed our nature, and paid our debt, sets us, his younger 
brethren, free from the legal ceremonies and the beggarly ele- 
ments of this world, John viii. 32, 36. CoL ii. 16, 20. He 
calls them to more spiritual and reasonable service, Rom. xii. 
1, 2. 1 Pet. ii. 5. Heb. ix. 10. 11. Mai. i. 11. Matt. xi. 30. 
Hos. xi. 4. He gives them more knowledge of, and intimacy 
with himself and his Father in him, Song viii. 1, 2. John i. 
18. xiv. 9, 10. xv. 15. Jer. xxxi. 34. 1 John ii. 20, 27- Isa. 
liv. 13. xlviii. 17. Eph. ii. 18. iii. 12. , 1 John i. 37. He al r 
lows them greater boldness in their approaches to God, and 
equal access to him from every part of the world, Heb. x. 
19 — 22. iv. 14 — 16. vii. 19. xi. 40. John x. 7, 9. xiv. 6. Rom. 
v. 1, 2, 3. Eph. ii. 18. iii. 9, 12. Isa. xix. 19. xlv. 22. liv. 5. 
Psalm xxiv. 1. ii. 8. He bestows his Spirit upon them more 
abundantly, Rom. viii. 15 — 17. Gal. iv. 4 — 6. Isa. xliv. 3, 5. 
Joel ii. 28. Acts ii. 1 Cor. xii. ; and calls them to more di- 
rect and immediate views of their spiritual inheritance, Luke 
xxii. 29. 

Adoption into the family of God includes, I. Advancement 
to great honour. God, of his mere grace and love, reigning 
through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, translates us from 
the family of Satan into his own, in which we have him for 
our new-covenant Father, Christ, holy angels and saints for 
our spiritual brethren, 1 John iii. 1. Jer. iii. 19. John xx. 18. 
Rom. viii. 29. Reb. ii. 11, 12.; and are God's prophets, priests, 
and kings, anointed with the same Spirit as Christ, 1 John ii. 



OF ADOPTION. 395 

20,27. 2 Cor. i. 21, 22. 1 Pet. ii. 9. Rev. i. 5, 6. v. 10. As 

prophets, being enlightened in the knowledge of divine mys- 
teries or even future events, Psalm xxv. 14. lxxiii. 24 — 26, 
28. xliii. 5. we, 1. Openly confess Christ and his truths with 
our mouth, 2 Cor. iv. 13. Rom. x. 10. Matt. x. 32.; enter- 
tain our neighbours with holy conference and spiritual instruc- 
tions, Eph. iv. 29. vi. 4. Phil. ii. 16. Song iv. 11. v. 10 — 16. 
vii. 9.; sing the praises of God, Eph. v. 19, 20. Col. iii. 16, 
17. 1 Sam. x. 5. xix. 24, 25. 1 Chron. xxv. 1, 2, 5. 2. Study 
an holy, instructive, and exemplary practice, Matt. v. 11. 
Phil. ii. 16. 1 Pet. ii. 12, 15. iii. 1. 3. Attest the truths of 
God by our sufferings, Rev. ii. 10. Luke xiv. 26. Matt. xvi. 

25. As priests, we live in familiar fellowship with God, 

and offer up spiritual sacrifices, intercessions, and worship to 
him, Rom. xii. 1, 2. Col. iii. 5. Heb. xiii. 15, 16. Phil. ii. 17. 
2 Tim. iv. 6. Mai. i. 11. Rev. viii. 3, 4. 1 Pet. ii. 5. 1 Cor. 

xv. 58. Heb. x. 25. xii. 28. As kings, we have generous 

and noble spirits, Psalm li. 12. Dan. v. 11, 12. Song i. 3. Zech. 
X. 3. 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. Phil. iii. 8, 9. Heb. xi. 26, 27.; pos- 
sess royal treasures of God's word and grace, Psalm cxix. 1 1 , 
72. Job xxiii. 12. Jer. xv. 16. James ii. 5.; and are venerable 
before God and men, and dangerous to be injured, Isa xliii. 
4. xlix- 23. lx. 14. Song vi. 4, 9. Rev. iii. 9. ; and spiritually 
war with, and conquer sin and Satan, and rule the world and 
our own spirits, Gal. v. 17, 24. Eph. vi. 10 — 20. Rom. vii. 
14 — 25. vi. 10 — 14. viii. 37. xvi. 20. Rev. xii. 11. 1 Cor. vi. 

I, 2, 12. 1 John v. 4. Rev. ii. 26, 27. Isa. xlv. 11. Prov. xvi. 
32. 

II. Adoption includes God's vouchsafing a right to all the 
privileges of his family. 1. A new name, Jer. xiv. 9. 2 Cor. 
vi. 18. Rev. iii. 12. Isa. lvi. 6. lxii. 12. 2. A new spirit of 
adoption, the Holy Ghost to comfort and seal us up to the 
day of redemption, Rom. viii. 9, 15. Gal. iv. 5, 6. Eph. i. 13, 
14. iv. 30. 2 Cor. i. 21, 22. v. 5. 3. His own fatherly sym- 
pathy, Psalm ciii. 13. Zech. ii. 8. Isa. lxiii. 4, 5, 7, 9, 15. 
4. His fatherly protection. Prov. xiv. 26. 2 Chron. xvi. 9. 
Deut xxxiii. 27 — 29. Isa. xlvi. 4. iv. 5, 6. xxvi- 20. Psalm 
cxxi. 2 — 8. xii 1 — 3. Zech. ii. 5, 8. 5. The ministration of 
angels to attend, guard, provide for, and direct us, Heb. i. 
14. Psalm xxxiv. 7- 6. New-covenant provision of every 
thing that can be useful to soul or body, Psalm xxxiv. 8 — 10. 
Matt. vi. 30—33. 1 Pet. v. 7. Phil. iv. 6, 19- Psalm lxxxiv. 

II. lxxxv. 12. 7. Fatherly and kind correction, wisely ma- 
naged for our spiritual advantage, Heb. xii. 6 — 11. Prov. iii. 
12. Psalm xciv. 12, 13. lxxxiv. 28 — 35. cxix. 67, 71, 75. Isa. 
xxvii. 9. Mic. vii- 14. Hos. ii. 14. Zech. xiii. 9. Rom. viii. 28. 



896 OF ADOPTION. 

2 Cor. iv. 17- 8. Unfailing establishment in this adopted 
state, and all the happy relations included in it, Lam. iii. 31, 
32. Psalm xxxvii. 24, 28. Jer. xxxii. 40. Rom. viii. 35 — 39. 
2 Sam. xxiii. 5. 9. Spiritual freedom from the power of the 
law as a broken covenant, and from the power of sin, Satan, 
the world, and death, — attended with a holy pleasure in 
serving God himself as our Father, John viii. 32, 36. 2 Cor. 
iii. 17- Hos. xi. 4. Gal. i. 4. iv. 4, 5. Psalm cxvi. 16. cxix. 
32, 45, 166. 10. Filial boldness and familiarity with him, 
as reconciled in Christ, Heb. x. 19 — 22. iv. 16. Job xxiii. 3. 
Psalm, lxiii. 3 — 8. Song i.-> — viii- 11. His fatherly hearing, ac- 
cepting, and answering our prayers which are presented in 
faith, Psalm lxv. 2. 1. 15. xci. 15. cxvi. 4 — 8. xxxiv. 4, 6, 15. 
John xvi. 23, 24. Matt. vii. 7 — 11. Isa. lvii. 9. lxv. 24. 12. 
His fatherly instruction and direction in spiritual things, and 
holy conversation, Isa. xlvii. 17. liv. 13. Psalm lxxiii. 23, 24. 
xxxii. 8. Hos. xi. 4. xiv. 2. Jer. iii. 19. Psalm xlviii. 14. 
•2 Thess. iii. 6. Prov. iii. 5, 6. 13. Fatherly comfort under 
every adversity, 2 Thess. ii. 16, 17. 2 Cor. i. 3 — 19. Zeph- 
iii. 17. Jer. xxxi. 13, 14, 25. Isa. Ii. 7, 12. lxvi. 13, 14. lxv. 
18, 19. lvii. 18, 19. 14. A full, free, and irrevocable right 
to all happiness in time and eternity, being heirs of promises, 
— of righteousness, — of the grace of life, — of salvation, — of 
the world,— of the kingdom,- — and heavenly inheritance,— nay, 
of God himself, Jer. iii. 19, Heb. vi. 17. xi. 7. i. 14. Psalm 
cxix. 111. 1 Pet. i. 4. iii. 7> Rom. iv. 13. James ii. 5. Rom. 

viii. 17. Psalm xvi. 5, 6. lxxiii. 26. Lam. iii. 24 Or, our 

inheritance by adoption includes, 1. Our happy enjoyment 
of all temporal good things, that is, our enjoying all that 
this earth can afford, in so far as it is for our real profit, 
and our tasting of God's special love in it, 2 Cor. viii. 9. 
Psalm xxxvii. 16. Prov. xvii. 1.; all creatures leading us to 
God himself as our Creator, Redeemer, and Father, Psalm 
civ. 24. xxxvi. 7- xcii. 4, 5. viii. 3, 4. cvii. 43. Hos. xiv 9. 
ii. 6, 7, 14. ; and under his directions, working together for 
our good, Rom. viii. 28. 2 Cor. iv. 17. xii. 7-^10. Psalm xci. 
11. ;— -and the very earth being preserved and renewed for pro- 
moting our happiness, Isa. vi. 13. lxv. 8. Matt. xxiv. 22. 2 Pet. 
iii. 10, 13, Isa. lxv. 17. lxvi. 22. 2 Our spiritual kingdom, 
Luke xxii. 29. xvii. 20, 21.; which includes our superiour ex- 
cellency among men, Psalm xvi. 3. Prov. xii. 26. ; our victor}', 
triumph, and dominion over sin, Satan, and the world, Rom. 
vi. 14. xvi. 20. 1 John v. 4. Gal. vi. 14. ; our rich treasures of 
gifts and graces, Psalm xiv. 12 — 14. Rev. ii 9- James ii. 5. 
Isa. liv. 11, 12.; and our inward jrder, peace, purity, and joy 
in the Holy Ghost, Prov. xvi. 32. Rom. xiv. 17. 3. God 
himself, as our all in all, Rom. viii. 17. Psalm xvi. 5, 6.- 



OF ADOPTION. 397 

Ixxiii. 26. cxlii. 5. cxix. 57. Lam. iii. 24. ; our unfailing secu- 
rity against all evil, Psalm xxiii. xli. Isa. xliii. 1, 2. xli. 10, 
14- — 16. ; our source and substance of all possible happiness, 
Psalm Ixxiii. 25, 26. lxxxiv. 11. 1 Cor. xv. 28. 

All the elect are chosen from all eternity to be adopted, and 
their names enrolled in the book of life, as future members of 
God's family, Eph. i. 5. Rev. xiii. 8. Matt. xxv. 34. They are 
actually adopted in the moment of their union to Christ, and 
their regeneration after his image : — and faith in so far as an 
instrumental cause, embraces and consents to God's adopting 
act, as intimated in the heart-renewing truth of the gospel, Jer, 
iii. 4, 19. John i. 12, 13. Gal. iii. 26, 27. 2 Pet. i. 4.-— It is 
manifested by an holy and heavenly conversation, marking their 
likeness to God, love to him, and to his word, ordinances, 
people, and interests in the woild, Matt. v. 44 — 48. Luke vi. 27. 
— 36. 1 Pet. i. 13 — 17- 2 Pet. i. 4—8. 1 John i. 1 — 5. And it 
will be publickly manifested in Christ's acknowledgment of them 
as his brethren, at the last day, Matt. xxv. 34 — 40, 45. 

Reflect. Hast thou, my soul, experienced the double change 
of thy state ? Am I, that was once an enemy of Jesus Christ 
and his Father, now washed in his blood, and justified in his 
sight ? Am I, that was so long a child of the devil, and an 
heir of hell, made a Son, an heir of God, and joint heir with 
Christ, and made light and love in the Lord ? — God forbid, that 
I should dare to preach a free justification, of which my soul 
never felt the need, never received, never delighted in ? — a gra- 
cious adoption, in which I have no share ? -Perhaps, in no 

lawful station do fewer experience these blessed changes than in 
that of preachers. — If men intrude themselves into, or even ap- 
proach the sacred office in their pollutions, how often God con- 
signs them over to spiritual death, that all that they read, think, 
or speak of Jesus Christ, and his eternal salvation, tends to 
harden their own hearts ? How often do preachers neither 
pray nor talk about divine things, especially out of their pub- 
lick ministrations, with the delightful feeling or inward warmth 
of the Private Christian ! How often, by affecting-like descants 
upon the doctrines, offers, and influences of the gospel, they, 
like Judas, but in a more invisible manner, hasten themselves 
to the depths of hell ! But, if I am justified and adopted, why 
do not I always believe, wonder at, and praise him for his 
love ? Hath God, in me, shewn to what amazing length his 
love and grace can go ? And shall not I love him, and live to 
him, with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my 
mind, and with all my strength ? And shall not I count all 
things but loss and dung to win him, and be found in him, and 
cheerfully contribute toil, expense, reputation, health, and even 
life, to win souls to him ? 



S98 OF -SANCTIFICATION. 



CHAP. IV. 

Of Sanctif cation. 

SANCTIFICATION, in Scripture, means, 1. An acknow- 
ledgment or manifestation of holiness. Thus God is sanctified, 
or his name hallowed, when he manifests, and others, actuated by 
him, acknowledge and declare his holiness, Lev. x. 3. Isa. v. 16. 
Mat. vi. 9. 1 Pet. iii. 15. 2. Setting apart persons and things 
to holy services, Isa. xiii. 3. Jer. i. 5. Gen. ii. 2. John xvii. 19. 
Thus every thing pertaining to the ceremonial worship was 
made holy, Exod. xxix. 1,27,44. 3. Purification from cere- 
monial defilements, or freedom from gross idolatry, errour, or 
profaneness, Heb. ix. 13. 1 Cor. vii. 14. 4. Deliverance from 
the guilt of sin, John xvii, 19. Heb- i. 3. x. 14. xiii. 12. Ezek. 
xxxvi. 25. 5. And more properly, That work of God's free 
grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man, after the image 
of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live 
unto righteousness, 1 Cor. vi. 11, 1 Thess. iv. 3. 

This sanctification is of unspeakable importance in itself, — 
and as it is the end of all the offices of Christ, Matt. i. 21. Tit. 
ii. 11, 12, 14. Heb. ii. 10, 11. ix. 14. x. 19— 22. xiii. 12. Psalm 
ex. 1 — 3.; — the end of his humiliation and exaltation, Tit. ii. 
14. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19, 20. ii. 21, 22. Eph. v. 1 — 4, '25— 27.;— the 
end of the Holy Ghost, in all his work on Christ and his church, 
John xvi. 7— 14. xiv. 16, 17- xv. 26, 27. Tit. iii. 5, 6. Ezek. 
xxxvi. 26, 27. ; — the end of all the precepts, promises, ordinan- 
ces, and providences of God, Matt. xxii. 37 — 40. 2 Cor. vii. 1. 

1 John iii. 2, 3. Rom. ii. 4. Isa. xxvii. 9. ; — and the end of our 
election, redemption, effectual calling, justification, adoption, 
and spiritual comfort, Eph. i. 4, 5. 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. Tit. ii. 14. 

2 Tim. i. 9. Rom. vi. 14. vii. 4, 6. viii. 2. 2 Cor. vi. 18. vii. 1. 
1 John iii. 1 — 3. Heb. xii. 28. Rom. v. 21. vi. 12. 

It must be carefully considered in a twofold light, 1. As our 
inestimable privilege, fully purchased with Christ's blood, Heb. 
xiii. 12. Eph. v. 25 — 27. Tit. ii. 14.; freely exhibited, offered, 
and given in his promises, Ezek. xxxvi. 25 — 27. 1 Thess. v. 23, 
24. ; firmly secured by the imputation of his righteousness, Rom. 
v. 1 — 5, 10, 21. vi. 14. vii. 4, 6. ; and graciously effected by his 
almighty power and Spirit, 1 Cor. vi. 11. Psalm ex. 3. 2. As 
our all-cotnprehensive duty, commanded by God in his law as a 
rule, Heb. xii. 14. Matt. v. 48. 1 Pet.i. 15, 16. 1 Thess. iv. 3. ; 
delightfully exemplified in his pattern, Matt. v. 44 — 48. Eph. 
iv. 31, 32. v. 1, 2. Matt. xi. 29. 1 Pet. ii. 21, 22. : effectually en- 
forced by his redeeming love, 1 John iv- 9, 10, 16, 19. 2 Cor. 



OF SANCTIFICATION. 399 

v. 14. Gal. ii. 20. Psalm cxvi. 12— 16. ciii. 1—6. ; to the study 
of which we are qualified, excited, and assisted by his almighty 
gracious influence, Gal. ii. 20. Phil. ii. 12, 13. iv. 13. Zech. x. 
12. John xv. 2 — 7- ; and by which we honour God, 1 Pet. ii. 
9. iv. 11. Matt. v. 16. Psalm cxvi. 16. Tit. ii. 10. John. xv. 8. 
Rom. vii. 4, 6. ; profit our neighbour, Tit. iii. 8, 14. 1 Pet. iii. 
1, 5, 16. Phil. ii. 16. 1 Cor. vii. 16. 1 Tim. iv. 16. ; and obtain 
for ourselves a free, but glorious and lasting reward, Psalm 
xix. 11.2 Cor. i. 12. 1 Cor. xv. 58. John xiv. 21, 23. Gal. vi. 
8, 16. 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. Rev. ii. 7, 10, 17, 26. iii. 3, 5, 12, 20, 
21. xxii. 14. 

Sanctification is not necessary in order to found our right of 
access to Christ as a Saviour,— or to be the ground of our claim 
to his righteousness, or of our interest in the judicial favour of 
God, or title to everlasting happiness, Isa. Iv. 1. Rev. xxii. 17. 
Matt. ix. 13. xviii. 11. Luke xix. 10. John iii. 14 — 17. Tit. 
iii. 5. Gal. ii. 20, 21. Phil. iii. 8, 9. Rom. v. 1, 2, 15 — 21- 
But it is absolutely necessary as a part of begun salvation, Matt. 
i. 21. Rom. xi. 26. ; necessary to correspond with the nature of 
the divine persons, in fellowship with whom our happiness con- 
sists, Lev. xi. 44, 45. 1 John iv. 8, 16, 19. Heb. xii. 28, 29. ; 
and with what they have done and do for us, in our election, 
redemption, effectual calling, justification, adoption, spiritual 
comfort, and glorification, Eph. i. 4. Tit. ii. 14- John xvii. 15, 
17. Ezek. xxxvi. 25 — 31. Acts xxvi. 18. ; — necessary, as an 
obedience to the will of God, our Creator, Sovereign, and Re- 
deemer, Exod. xx. 2 — 17. Deut. v. 6 — 21. Matt. xxii. 37 — 40. 
Rom. vi. xii. — xv. Eph. iv. — vi. Col. iii. iv. Heb. x. — xiii. 
James i. to Jude, Matt. v. — vii. ; — necessary to express our gra- 
titude to God for his redeeming kindness to us, Luke i. 74, 75. 
Rom. vi. 1, 2, 15. Psalm c. 2 — 4. cxvi. 1 6. ; — necessary, as fruits 
and evidences of our union to Christ, faith in him, and justifica- 
tion by his imputed righteousness, Col. ii. 6. James ii. 17 — 24. ; 
— necessary to adorn our profession, and to gain others to 
Christ, and to an useful and comfortable manner of li ing in the 
world, Tit. ii. 10. 1 Pet. ii, 9. iii. 1, 2. 1 Cor. vi. 20. vii. 16. ; 
— necessary, as a mean of our present happiness and comfort, 
2 Cor. i. 12. 1 John i. 6, 7. Psalm cxix. 6, 165. Prov. iii. 17. 
iii. iv. xvi. 7. ; — and necessary as a preparation for heavenly en- 
joyments and exercises, 1 John iii. 2, 3. Rom, ii. 7, 10. viii. 6, 
9, 13. Heb. xii. 14. Gal. v. 22, 23 Rev. xxii. 14. 

To prevent our turning the grace of God into licentiousness, 
or our placing our own qualities and works in the room of 
Christ's righteousness j or our erroneous judging our state be- 
fore God by our frames, we ought accurately to observe how 
our justification and sanctification differ in, 1. Their nature. 
Justification changes our state in law before God, as a judge : 



400 OP SANCTIFICATION. 

Sanctification changes our heart and life before him, as our Fa-> 
ther, Rom. viii. 1,4. 2. In their order. Justification pre- 
cedes and sanctification follows as its fruit and evidence, Rom. 
vi. 14. vii. 4, 6. 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. 3. In their matter. The 
surety-righteousness of Christ imputed, is our justifying righte- 
ousness : but the grace of God, implanted, actuated, and exer- 
cised, is the matter of our sanctification, Rom. v. 19. John i. 
16. 4. In their form and properties. Justification, being an 
act, is perfected at first, and always equal on all believers : 
Sanctification, being a work, is unequal in different believers, 
and even in the same persons at different times, and is never 
perfect in any till death, Rom. viii. 1, 35. Acts xiii. 39. Prov. 
iv. 18. Job xvii. 9. 5. In their proper subject of righteous- 
ness. Justifying righteousness is in Christ, and upon us, as a 
robe: but sanctifi ation is from Christ, and in us, as a new 
nature and life, Isa. xlv. 24, 25. lxi. 10. Rom. iii. 2z. 2 Pet. i. 
4. 2 Cor. v. 17. Ei>h. ii. 10. 6. In their object and extent. 
Justification respects our persons, and particularly affects our 
consciences. Sanctification renews our whole man, Heb. ix. 
14. x. 19 — 22. 1 Thess. v. 23. 7. In their ingredients. In 
justification the excellencies of God and Christ, particularly the 
love of God and the righteousness of Christ, are manifested to 
us. . In sanctification, our love to God, and our holiness of na- 
ture and life appear, Rom. iii. 24 — 26. v. 19 — 21. Eph. v. 
1—5. 8. In their discernibleness Justificatipn is a most se- 
cret act. Sanctification manifests itself, and also' our justifica- 
tion, on which it is founded, Rev. ii. 17. 2 Cor. xiii. 5. 9. In 
their relation to sin. Justification removes the guilt of it, as 
it is a capital damning crime : Sanctification, as a medicine, re- 
moves the filth and power of it, as it is a mortal disease, Col. i. 
14. ii. 13. 2 Cor. v. 21- vii. 1. 10. In their relation to the law 
of God. Justification delivers us from the law as a broken co- 
venant : Sanctification conforms us to the law as a rule of life, 
Rom. vii. 4, 6. viii. 2, 4, 13. Gal ii. 19, 20. 2 Cor. i. 12. Phil, 
iv 8. I Cor. ix. 21. 11. In their relation to God. Justifica- 
tion delivers us from his avenging wrath, and instates us in his 
favour : Sanctification conforms us to his image, Rom. vii.. 1, 
33. v 19, 10, 11. Col. iii. 10. 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. Eph. iv. 4, 
32. v. 1,2. Matt. v. 48. 12. In their relation to the offices 
of Christ- Justification is immediately founded upon the sacri- 
ficing work of his priesthood. Sanctification immediately pro- 
ceeds from his prophetical instruction, and his kingly suhduing, 
ruling, and defending us, Rom. viii. 1 — ,4, 33, 34. x. 4. Isa. lxi. 
1 — 3. Psalm ex. 2, 3. 13. In their usefulness to us. Justifi- 
cation frees us from all obnoxiousness to the punishments of 
hell, and entitles- us to the happiness of heaven. Sanctification. 



OF SANCTrFICATION. 401 

frees us from the pollution and slavery of our lusts, and prepares 
us for heaven, Rom. v. 21. viii- 30. Col. i. 12. 2 Cor. v. 5. 

We must no less carefully observe, how justification and sane, 
tification are inseparably connected, 1. In the purpose of God, 
Rom. viii. 28, 30. ; calling and glorifying there including our 
sanctification. 2. In the mediatorial office and work of Christ, 
Tit. ii. 11—14. 1 Cor. i. 30. Eph. v. 25—27. 3. In the doc- 
trines and promises of the gospel, Luke i. 74, 75. vii 47. Ezek. 
xxxvi. 25 — 31. Heb. viii. 10 — 12. Acts v. 31. 4. In the use 
of God's law, Rom. viii. 1 — 4. 5. In the experience of all be- 
lievers, 1 Cor. yi.il. 1 Pet. i. 2. Rom. viii. 30.. Col. ii. 13. — 
And how justification, being the source and foundation of our 
sanctification, mightily promotes it. 1. Justification perfectly 
frees us from the curse of the broken covenant of works, which 
infallibly binds us under the reigning power and abominable 
slavery of our sinful lusts, 1 Cor. xv. 56. Gal. iii. 13. Rom. vi. 
13, 14. vii. 4, 6. 2. In our justifying sentence, the justice, 
holiness, love, mercy, faithfulness, wisdom, and power of God 
are legally engaged to bestow upon us holiness of heart and life, 
as a principal part of that eternal life, to which we are adjudg- 
ed by it, 1 John i. 9. Rom. v. 21. vii. 4, 6. vi. 14. 2 Tim. iv. 
7, 8. 3. The justifying righteousness of Christ applied to our 
conscience does, in a real and efficacious manner, purge it from 
dead works to serve the living God, 1 Tim. i. 5. Heb. ix. 14. 
x. 22. 4. In our firm belief of our justifying sentence upon 
God's own testimony and evidence, we perceive the constrain- 
ing love of Christ, the goodness, greatness, and holiness of God, 
— the goodness, holiness, and equity of his law, and its high 
and indispensible obligations on us as a rule of life ; — the infinite 
vileness and tremendous desert and danger of sin, — the beauty, 
dignity, and usefulness of gospel holiness, and the delightful 
exemplification of it in Christ, and full provision of strength for 
it, and gracious reward of it through him ; and are hereby ef- 
fectually enabled and excited to cleanse ourselves from all filthi- 
ness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the 
Lord, 2 Cor. v. 14. Gal. iii. 13, 14. Matt. iii. 15. v. 17. Zech. 
x. 12. xii. 10. Isa. xlv. 24, 25. xl. 29—31. 2 Cor. vii. 1. Luke 
i. 74, 75. Heb. xii. 28. 

Sanctification, as a new covenant privilege, is the work 
of God alone as reconciled in Christ, Lev. xx. 8. Ezek. xxxvii. 
28. xx. 12. xxxvi. 26, 27. Phil. ii. 12, 13. 1 Thess. v. 23,24. 
Deut. xxx. 6. — It is ascribed to the Father, John xvii. 17. 
Eph. ii. 5. 1 Pet. ii. 5. 1 Pet. i. 2, 3. Jude 1. — to the Son, 
Eph. i. 1. v. 25—27. Heb. ii. 11—14. xiii. 12. x. 10, 14. 
1 Cor. i. 2, 30. 2 Cor. v- 17. Gal. vi. 15. Eph. ii. 10. Col. i. 
2, 12. ii. 6, 7, 10— 13, 19. iii. 4. Gal. ii. 20. John vi. 33. xi. 
25. xiv. 6, 19. 1 Cor. xv. 45 — 49. ; but it is peculiarly ascribed 

5 H 



402 OF SANCTIFICATION. 

to the Holy Ghost, in, and by whom, the Father and Son 
■work it, 2 Thess. ii. 13. Rom. xv. 16. 1 Cor. vi. 21. Tit. iii. 5. 
Zech. xii. 10. 2 Cor, iii. 18- Rom. viii. 12, 13. Eph. i. 18, 19. 
ii. 22. Psalm cxliii. 10. John vi- 63. xvi. 13, 14. iii. 5, 6. 

1 Pet. i. 2. Ezek. xxxvi. 27. Isa. xliv. 3 — 5 Nothing but 

God's own free grace inwardly moves him to sanctify us, Eph. 
ii. 4, 5. v. 25, 26. Christ's surety righteousness is the only 
meritorious cause, or purchasing price or condition of our sanc- 
tification, 1 John iii. 5, 8. 1 Pet. i. 2, 18, 19. ii. 24. John xyii. 
17, 19. Heb. ix. 12, 14. x. 10, 14. xiii. 12. Rev. i. 5, 6. v. 9. 
1 Cor. i. 2. And applied to our heart, it frees from the domi- 
nion of sin, introduces new covenant grace, and powerfully stirs 
us up to the study of holiness, Rom. vii. 4, 6. Heb. ix. 14. x. 
22. 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. Psalm cxvi. 16. cxix. 32, 166. Luke i. 
74, 75. His intercession is the procuring cause of it, John 

xvii. 9 — 26,15, 17, 21. In sanctification, considered as our 

duty, we, that are sanctified, work together with God, as en- 
abled and excited by him, Song i. 4. 2 Pet. i. 3 — 8. Rom. xii. 
1, 2. 1 Pet. i. 15, 16, 22. Matt. v. 48. 2 Cor. vii. 1. Eph. iv. 
22 — 24, 31, 32. v. 1, 2, 5. 1 Thess. iv. 3. 1 John iii. 3. Heb. 
xii. 1, 14, 28. 

In both these views of it, ministers are useful in promoting 
our sanctification, being instruments for conveying it as a pri- 
vilege, through the gospel, directors in, and exciters to the study 
of it, as a duty, 1 Cor. iii. 9. 2 Cor. vi. 1. xi. 2. 1 Tim. iv. 16. — 
God's word and ordinances promotes sanctification, as they shew 
what is sinful, the abominable nature and hurtful tendency of 
it ; and represent what is lawful and holy, with the motives to, 
and means of studying and attaining it, — and as they are the 
means, by which the blood, Spirit, and grace of Christ, are 
conveyed into our hearts, John xv- 3, 7- xyii. 17. Psalm cxix. 
9, 11. James i. 18, 21. 1 Pet. i. 23. ii. 2. Eph. y. 26. Rom. i. 
16, 17. Acts xiii. 26, 34- Heb- ii. 3, 4. 2 Thess. ii. 13. Gal. ii. 
20. iii. 2. Rom. vi. 4. John vi. 31, 32.-— The declarations, pro- 
mises, and invitations of the gospel, are the means of convey- 
ing holiness, into our hearts, and of maintaining and increasing 
it there, Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. Isa. ii. 35. The law, in the 
hand of Christ, directs and binds us to the study of holiness, 
1 Pet. i. 15, 16. Matt. xxii. 37 — 40. Rom. xii. — xv. GaL v. vi. 
Col. iii- iv. 1 Thess. iii. — v. Heb. x. — xiii. Matt. v. — vii. Exod. 
xx.— -But it is not of themselves that God's word and ordinances 
promote our sanctification,, but the Holy Ghost, with his sav- 
ing influences attending them, i-enders them effectual, for the 
ends above-mentioned, 1 Con vi. 11. Rom. viii. 13. Gal. v. 17, 
18,22,25. — God's providences, particularly afflictive ones, as 
subordinated to his word and ordinances, are occasional pro- 
moters of our sanctification, as they awaken, allure, or shut up 



OP SANCTIFICATION 40S 

to an earnest study and improvement of them for that end, 
Psalm cxix. 67, 71, 75. Isa. xxvii. 9. xxxviii. 16. Job xxxi'ri. 
16 — 30. Ezek. xx. 36, 37. Hos. ii. 6, 7, 14. Isa. xlviii. 10. 
Mic. yii. 14. Dan. xi. 35. xii. 10. Heb. xii. 6—11. Prov. iii. 
12. Psalm xciv. 12. Rev. iii. 19- 

The law of God, as a rule of life, in its whole extent, is the 
regulating standard of our sanctification, Matt, xxviii. 20. 
John xiv. 15. xv. 10, 14. 1 John iii 3, 4. v. 3. James ii. 8. Deut. 
xii. 32. v. 32. iv. 2. v. 6 — 21. Exod. xx. 2 — 17. And though no 
saint can attain absolute perfection in holiness in this life, the 
law peremptorily requires it, both in qualities and practice, 
Matt. xxii. 37, 39. v. 48. 2 Cor. xiii. 11. 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. 
1. The infinite perfection of God's nature renders it impossible 
for him to give any law, which requires no more than imperfect 
holiness and virtue, 2 Tim. ii. 13. 2. His love to his people 
renders it necessary for him to bind them to the highest degrees 
of holiness, which is at once happiness and a mean of it, 
1 John iii. 1—3. John xv. 9, 10. 3. The more perfection in 
holiness we attain, the more is God glorified, John xv. 8. 
1 Cor. vi. 20 x. 31. xv. 58. 1 Pet. iv. 11. 4. This demand of 
perfection in holiness is necessary to excite our most earnest 
study of fellowship with Christ, in order that we may abound 
in holiness, John xv. 3 — 10. Col. ii. 6, 19. Eph. iv. 16. John i. 

14, 16. 1 Cor. i. 30. 5. It is necessary to promote our earnest 
endeavours after much more holiness and virtue than we have 
attained, Phil. iii. 12 — 14. 2 Pet. i. 5 — 8. iii. 18. Eph. v. 9. 
Gal. v. 22, 23. 6. It is necessary to promote our humility, 
self-denial, and daily improvement of Christ's blood for for- 
giveness, under a sense of our shortcomings, Phil. iii. 8, 9, ll y 
12. 1 John i. 7, 9. 

The example of former or present saints is to be improved 
as an excitement to, and mean of regulating our study of 
holiness by the law of God, Heb. vi. 12. xii. 1, 2. xiii. 7. 
1 Cor. xi. 1. But the example of Christ, and of God in him, 
in that which is imitable by us, is our only perfect pattern of 
holiness, which we ought to copy, Heb. xii. 1, 2. 1 John ii. 
6, 29. iii. 7. Phil. ii. 1—7, 15. Eph. iv. 32. v. 1, 2. 1 Pet. ii. 
21, 22. iv. 1. i. 15, 16. Matt. v. 44 — 48. xi. 29. xvi. 24 — ? 
Christ's example, being given under that very law which is our 
rule, and in circumstances much similar to our own, is a pe~ 
culiarly proper pattern- 1. In his assured faith and trust in his 
Father, Isa. 1. 7, 9. Psal. xvi. 1. xxii. 8, 9, 10. 2. In the 
universality of his obedience, John xv. 10. viii. 29. Matt. iii. 

15. v. 17. Phil. ii. 8. 3. In his solemn and fervent devotion, 
Matt. iv. 2. xi. 25, 26, 27. Luke vi. 12. xxii. 41 — 44. John 
xvii. xi. 41, 42- xii. 27, 28. Heb. v. 7- 4. In his perfect re- 
signation to his Father's will. Matt. xxvi. 39. John xviii. 11. 



404 OF SANCTIFICATION. 

5. In his most disinterested love to men, 2 Cor. viii. 9. Eph. v, 
2. John xv. 9 — 12. Gal. ii. 20. 6. In his unparalleled humility 
and meekness, Matt. xi. 29. John xiii. 14, 15. Phil. ii. 1 — 7. 
7. In his constancy and patience, under trouble, 1 Pet. ii. 
21 — 24. Isa. 1. 6. liii. 7. Heb. xii. 2, 3. 8. In his sincerity, 
candour, and uprightness, 1 Pet. ii. 22. Isa. liii. 9. 9. In his 
readiness cordially to forgive injuries, and render good for 
evil, Luke xxiii. 34. Col. xii. 13. 10. In his constant readiness 
to do good, temporal or spiritual, to his most inveterate ene- 
mies, Acts x. 38. Luke xxii. 50, 51. 11. In the spirituality' 
of his mind, and readiness to improve the most common things 
for spiritual instruction, John iv. vi. x. Matt. v. — vii. xiii. 
xvii. xx. xxi- xxii. xxiii. xxiv. xxv. Luke iv — xx. John 
ii. — xvi. 

Though our faith cannot be a mean of God's implanting 
grace in our heart, yet, being formed by his regenerating act, 
it, under the influence of the Holy Ghost, — improving the word 
of God, and the person, righteousness, fulness, and example of 
Christ, and the perfections of God as manifested and offered in 
him, is a noted mean of our increasing in holiness of heart and 
life. 1. By uniting with Christ, and receiving justification and 
adoption in him, it lays a proper foundation of holiness and 
virtue, John xv. 1 — 10. Rom. vii. 5, 6. Gal. ii. 19, 20. Col. ii. 

6, 7, 10, 11. 2. By believing God's declarations, and regarding 
his example, it powerfully affects our hearts with the odiousness 
and criminality of sin, and with the nature, excellency, and 
motives to holiness, John xv. 3. xvii. 17. Eph. v. 26. 1 Thess. 
ii. 13. 2 Thess. ii. 13. 3. By trusting to Christ and his Spirit, 
that, according to their characters, they will fulfill their gra- 
cious promises, it derives virtue from them, for mortification 
of sin, and increase of holiness, Col. ii. 19. Eph. iv. 16. Jer. 
xvii. 7, 8- Psalm xcii. 13, 14, 15 — In managing religious duties 
for the increase of our sanctification, faith, 1. Improves the 
Lord Jesus Christ, in his manifold connections with us sinful 
men, in correspondence to the condition of our souls ; and from 
his fulness, by his Spirit, and through his word, derives grace 
to form in us proper tempers, and to animate and fit us for 
proper exercises, John i. 14, 16. 2. It presents our persons 
and services to God, to be accepted only through the righte- 
ousness and intercession of Christ, Col. iii. 17. Eph. hi. 21. 
v. 20. 1 Pet. iv. 11. ii. 5, 9. Rom. xii. 1. — In managing our 
common transactions of life for promoting holiness, faith, 
I. Enables us to receive all our outward mercies as purchased 
by Christ, and as the gifts of his free grace, Gen. xxxii. 10. 
xxxiii. 5. 2. It disposes us to count all things but loss and 
dung to win Christ and his spiritual blessings, and to a readiness 
to part with them for his sake, Phil. iii. 7 — 9. Acts xx. 24. 



OF SANCTIFICATION. 40i 

xxu 13. 3. It disposes us to look for our success in our civil 
business, from Christ's new-covenant care of us, 1 Pet. v. 7. 
Phil. iv. 6- Psalm* xxxvii. 3—9. Matt. vi. 26—33. 4. It 
enables us to improve outward things as means of fellowship 
with God, — prosperity, for exciting our thankfulness to him, 
and desire of more full enjoyment of him, 2 Chron. xvii. 5, 6. 
—and adversity, for weaning our affections from this world, and 
setting them wholly on him, Hab. iii. 17, 18. Psalm cxlii. 4, 5. 
Hos. ii. 6, 7, 14. 5. By improving the redeeming love of God 
and everlasting fulness of Christ for us, it disposes us hum- 
bly and cheerfully to bestow all the temporal property we have in 
his service, Rom. xv. 27. 1 Cor. ix. 11. 1 Chron. xxix. 14. 
Isa. xxiii. 18. — In the commanding temper of our souls, faith 
hatha peculiarly powerful influence; as, 1. The objects upon 
which it fixes, are such as are of an universal efficacy when 
rightly improved. 2. The testimony and authority of God, 
which it improves, are most powerful and determining. 3. It 
hath an appointment by God to be the leading principle of our 
Christian practice, next to Christ and his Spirit. 4. In walking 
by faith, we walk as always united to Christ, and always resting 
upon him for grace and strength, and for acceptance, according 
to his character and promises. 

The sanctification promoted by God's word, ordinances, and 
influences, and by the faith of his operation, answerably to his 
law, image, and pattern, includes, 1. Sanctification of nature, in 
which our whole man, soul, body, and spirit, is renewed after 
the image of God, Eph. iv. 23, 24. 2. Sanctification of life, 
in which we are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and to 
live unto righteousness, 2 Pet. i. 3 — 8. iii. 18. Rom. vi. xii. 
xiii. xiv. Gal. v. vi. Eph. iv. — vi. Col. iii.iv. 1 Thess. v. Heb. 
xii. xiii. 1 Pet. i. — v. 1 John i — v. James i. — v. Jude 20 — 25. 
— Or, it includes gracious habits implanted, Christian tempers 
acquired, and holy exercises performed. — In this view, it includes 
regeneration, which properly means God's implantation of gra- 
cious or holy principles in our heart, Tit. iii. 5. Eph. ii. x. 
1 Pet. i. 3, 23. ii. 2. Ezek. xxxvi. 26. xi. 19. John iii. 3, 5, 6. ; 
and sanctif cation, strictly taken, which means the continuance, 
strengthening, and increasing those gracious principles, and 
exercising them in holy and virtuous actions, Job xvii. 9. 
Prov. iv. 18- 2 Pet. i. 4 — 8. iii. 11, 12, 14, 18- ; — and which, 
as it respects our nature, is a continued new creation, in which 
our regeneration is carried into perfection ; on which account, 
it was called Regeneration by our Reformers, and their imme- 
diate followers, for almost an hundred years. 

In opposition to that habitual permanent indwelling sinfulness 
of our nature, a supernatural habit, or vital principle of grace 
or holiness, is created, infused, and implanted by God, in every 
saint in his regeneration or effectual calling, which is continued,. 



406 OP SANCTIFICATION. 

strengthened, and increased in sanctification, strictly so called, 
and perfected in glorification,— »-which being different from, and 
antecedent to all acts of faith or obedience, doth, under the 
actuating influence of the Holy Ghost, dispose and enable to 
such acts. I. Neither God, nor any of his creatures, perform 
any act or motion, without first having a correspondent life 
and power, or acting principle, Matt. vii. 17, 18. xii. 33 — 35. 
Nothing may as well speak, work, believe, obey, as any act of 
faith or holiness be performed, without a correspondent gracious 
permanent principle. II. Adam and angels were created with 
vital principles or habits of holiness, in order to qualify them 
for holy acts, Gen. i. 26, 27. v. 1. Eccl. vii. 29. Col. iii. lO. 
Eph. iv. 24. Jude 6. Psalm ciii. 19 — 21. This habit or prin- 
ciple, included in it an inclination and power to understand 
whatever God should make known to them, — believe whatever 
he should declare, — receive whatever he should give, — and do 
whatever he should command. — Nay, though Christ had all the 
fulness of the Godhead dwelling in him bodily, and the Spirit 
without measure, — he had, in his manhood, a created principle 
or habit of holiness, capable of being strengthened and enlarged 
by exercise, — disposing and enabling him to perform acts of 
faith and obedience ; — and which is imputed to us, to balance 
our want. of original righteousness, Luke i. 35. ii. 40, 52. Heb. 
vii. 26. v. 8. III. Every man, since the fall, has in him a 
natural habit or principle of wickedness, continually inclining 
and enabling him to acts of unbelief, hatred of God, and dis- 
obedience to him, Gen. vi. 5. viii. 21. Job xiv. 4. Psalm li. 5. 
1 Cor. ii. 14. John v. 40. xii. 39, 40. Eph. iv. 18. ii. 1, 2. Tit. 
iii. 3. Rom. viii. 7, 8. Matt. xv. 19. Jer. xvii. 9- If then no 
new and contrary supernatural habit or vital principle of grace 
be implanted in our heart, the new-covenant remedy is not 
answerable to our sinful malady ; nor can even omnipotence 
itself make us perform one act of faith, repentance, or holy 
obedience, Rom. viii. 7, 3. xii. 33 — '35. Luke vi. 43—45. — If 
Satan mark his malice against us, and mark us his children, by 
introducing sinful habits, shall not God manifest his infinite 
love to us, in supernaturally implanting permanent habits or 
principles of holiness, as his permanent image on his children ? 
Shall not Jesus Christ, by uniting his person, and imputing his 
righteousness to his members, and putting his Spirit within 
them, produce in them a permanent conformity to him, in the 
qualities of their heart ? Col. ii. 19. Eph. iv. 16. 1 Cor. vi. 17. 
IV. The form of God's act or work in converting his people, — 
his quickening or raising them from the dead, Eph. ii. 6, 7- John 
v. 21, 25. Col. ii. 13- John iv. 14. Rom. vi. 4, 5. viii. 2. ; — his 
giving sight to the blind, Acts xxvi. 18. 2 Cor. iv. 6. Isa. xlii. 
7. lxi. 1. xxxv. 5. xxix. 18.; circumcising their heart to love 
himself, Col. ii. 11, 12. Phil. iii. 3. Rom. ii. 29. Deut. xxx- 6.; 



Of sanctification. m 

fenewing them after his image, Tit. iii. 5. Eph. iv. 24. ; creating 
them unto good works, Eph. ii. 10. iv. 24. Col. iii. 10. — mani- 
festly prove, that he produces something permanent, a super- 
natural habit or vital principle of holiness. V. The inspired 
descriptions of that which is conferred by God on men in their 
regeneration, plainly prove it an abiding habit or principle. 
It is God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus, not in, but 
unto good works, Eph. ii. 10. It is a new heart, — a new spirit, 
—a heart of flesh, — a pure heart, — a true heart, — directly con- 
trary to the habit of sinful corruption, which makes an heart 
old, — stony,— obdurate,-— obstinate, polluted, and deceitful, 
Ezek. xi. 19- xviii. 31. xxxvi. 26. 1 Tim. i. 5. Heb. X. 22.: — 
a new creature, 2 Cor. v. 17. Gal. vi. 15. ; — a new man, having 
spiritual powers directly opposite to those of the old ma?i, or 
sinful corruption of our hearts, — knowledge instead of igno- 
rance,— life instead of spiritual death, — power instead of ina- 
bility, — faith instead of unbelief, — love instead of enmity, Col. 
iii. 9, 10. Eph. iv. 23, 24. v. 8, 9. ii. 15. 1 Tim. i. 5. Deut. 
xxx. 6. 1 John iii. 17. ; — an inward or inner man, which is 
renewed day by day,— and after which we delight in the law of 
God, — and which is strengthened with all might, 2 Cor. iv. 16. 
Rom. vii. 22. Eph. iii. 16.; — the hidden man of the heart, in 
that which is not corruptible, 1 Pet. iii. 4. — It is a divine 
nature, 2 Pet. i. 4. ; the image of God, conformed to his moral 
perfections, and to that likeness of him in which Adam was 
created, in every essential ingredient, Eph. iv. 23, 24. Col. iii. 
9, 10. 2 Cor. iii. 18. ; — the image of Christ, conformed to the 
permanent holiness of his manhood, Rom. viii. 29. 2 Cor. iv. 4. 
— It is a spirit born of the Spirit of God, conformed to the 
excellencies which are in him, John iii. 5, 6, 8. ; a spirit, which 
lusts against the sinful corruption of eur heart, as being per- 
fectly opposite to it, Gal. v. 17. ; a spirit, which, under the in- 
fluences of the Holy Ghost, brings forth good fruits, Gal. v. 
22, 23. vi. 8. Eph. v. 9. ; — a spirit after which believers walk,—' 
and in which they walk and live, as wicked men do after, and in 
the indwelling corruption of their nature, Rom. vii. 1, 4. Gal. 
v. 18,25. — It is grace, a freely given, created, implanted, and 
permanent comeliness, Zcch. xii. 10. 2 Cor. iv. 13. 2 Tim. ii. 1. 
Heb. xiii. 9. 2 Pet. iii. 18— It is life — abiding life, Gal. ii. 20. 
1 John v. 12. iii. 15. Eph. iv. 18- John iv. 14. — It is circumci- 
sion, an abiding mark of our new-covenant relation to God, 
directly opposite to our sinful lusts, Col. ii. 11, 12, 13. Phil, 
iii. 3. Rom. ii. 29. — It is a law of our mind, which wars against 
our indwelling corruptions, Rom. vii. 23, 25. — It \sfeshly tables 
of our heart, on which God's law is written, and we made an 
epistle of Christ, 2 Cor. iii. 3. Jer. xxxi. 33. Heb. viii. 10. — It 
is an inward root or stock into which God's word is ingrafted, 



408 OF SANCTIFICATION". 

Job xix. 28. James i. 21. ; and which produces a plentiful crop 
of good acts, Matt. xiii. 8,23. Luke viii. 15. It is incorruptible 
seed, which is conveyed into adult persons by or through the 
word of God, I Pet. i. 23. ; — seed of God, which abides in every 
saint, infant or adult, 1 John iii. 9. It is represented as acting, 
reigning, &c — Can any man believe, that all these mean no 
permanent indwelling habit or principle of holiness, but mere 
acts of faith, without supposing the Scripture to be altogether 
unintelligible, and that every effect of God's power represented 
may be no more than mere acts of men ? VI. Even particular 
graces of faith, love, &c. are represented as habits, qualities, or 
vital principles. Thus faith is said to be obtained, 2 Pet. i. 1. ; 
to be had, 2 Thess. iii. 2. James ii. 14, 18. ; to be kept, 2 Tim. 
iv. 7. ; to abide, 1 Cor. xiii. 13. ; to dwell in us, 2 Tim. i. 5. ; and 
we in it, as wicked men in the flesh, 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Rom. viii. 8. 
By it Christ dwells in us, Eph. iii. 17. and through it we are 
kept, 1 Pet. i. 5. It fails not, Luke xxii. 32. John iv. 14, 
Men grow in it, and it groweth exceedingly, 2 Thess. i. 3. 2 Pet. 
iii. 18. It is increased, Luke xvii. 5. 2 Cor. x. 15. It fills 
the heart, Acts vi. 5. xi. 24. It works, Gal. v. 6. James ii. 
22. And it is strong, lively, unfeigned, &c. Rom. iv. 19, 20. 

James ii. 17, 20, 26. 1. Tim. i. 5. 2 Tim. i. 5. Love dwells 

in us, 1 John iii. 17. ; abides, 1 Cor. xiii. 8, 13. ; and is perhaps 
shed abroad, Rom. v. 5. and acts in many different forms, 1 Cor. 

xiii. 4 — 7. But acts of faith and love are sometimes called 

by the name of the habit from which they proceed. VII. The 
denial of indwelling graces, supernatural habits, or vital prin- 
ciples of holiness, implanted in believers' hearts, really opposes 
the whole work of the Spirit of God, and undermines all prac- 
tical religion ; for, if there be no such indwelling, permanent, 
vital principles created in our soul in regeneration, then, 1. Our 
free will, i. e. our corrupt will, must reign without control in 
our heart, having no supernatural principle to check it. And 
it can never act under Christ as his deputy, Rom. viii. 7, 8. 
Jer. xvii. 9. 2. Contrary to Christ's most solemn and express 
declaration, we may enter into heaven without being born 
again, or born of the Spirit, — by acts of faith, repentance, 
and new obedience, proceeding from no gracious principle, 
John iii. 3, 5. 3. if men can act faith or repentance, without 
supernatural habits of faith and repentance created in them, 
what need is there of regeneration ? or, What is regeneration ? 
Is it our act of believing? 4. If no habitual grace be im- 
planted in regeneration, all infants, who cannot hear or believe 
the gospel, must be destitute of God's grace, and dying, must 
either be all damned, or be admitted to heaven without any- 
inward inherent holiness, Heb. xii. 14. xi. 6. 5. In giving up 
with supernatural habits of grace,, we must either disprove 



OP SANCT1FICATI0N. 409 

original sin altogether, or maintain that a heart which is only 
deceitful above all things, and desperately xvickcd, may, under 
the influence of Christ and his Spirit, act in contradiction to it- 
self, and savingly believe and repent. 6. In giving up with 
supernatural implanted habits, or principles of grace in believers, 
we must deny the whole work of the Holy Ghost in the forma- 
tion, preservation, or perfection of the new creature. — And all 
that is left for him, is to act upon the powers of our soul as 
simply natural, or as sinfully corrupted, to make them perform 
acts of faith and gospel-holiness, which proceed from no corres- 
pondent, but contrary principle. 7. Without indwelling habits 
of grace, there can be no spiritual union with Christ. He, the 
quickening Spirit, the resurrection and the life, cannot be one 
spirit with men destitute of spiritual life, and continuing mem- 
bers of the devil, dead in trespasses and sins, John xiv. 19. xi. 
25. 1 Cor. xv. 45 — 49. vi. 17. 8. If there be no implanted habi- 
tual grace, there can be no imputation of the surety-righteous- 
ness of Christ, which partly consists in holiness of nature, for 
our justification ; as habitual holiness in our heart, must as ne- 
cessarilj»roceed from the imputation of Christ's righteousness, 
as the want of original righteousness, and corruption of our na- 
ture, do from the imputation of Adam's first sin. 9. There 
can be no adoption into God's family, without supernaturally im- 
planted habits of holiness. God cannot be our Father, and per- 
mit Satan to hold his whole image and power in our heart. 
10. If we deny the inherent holiness of nature implanted in be- 
lievers, we must reject the whole law of God as a rule ; for he 
neither has nor can give any law, which doth not require inhe- 
rent holiness, and require that all acts of obedience should pro- 
ceed from holy qualities and inclinations, 1 Pet. i. 15, 16, 18. 
1 Tim. i. 5. Mat. vii. 17, 18. xii. 33 — 35. 11. Without inhe- 
rent habits of holiness, there can be no fellowship with Christ 
or his Father, as there is no likeness to him, no inclination to- 
wards him, no fitness to entertain his visits, or ability to 
hold intercourse with him, Amos iii. 3. 2 Cor. viii. 14. 
12. Without indwelling habits of grace, the Holy Ghost and 
his lively oracles can have no residence in us. How could 
he dwell in a dead carcase, a Sodom of filthiness ? — or his 
truths be an engrafted word, where there was no gracious 
root or stock for it ; or written in our inward parts, where 
there were no fleshly tables of a new nature, and where they 
could only be held prisoners in unrighteousness ? 13. If God^ 
law require inward holiness, his writing of it in our'heart must 
include it. If his law do not require it, the want of it, and 
the corruption of nature, which is contrary to it, can be no 
sin, no ground of grief, confession, or application to the blood 
of Christ for purification from it. 14. Without implanted 

3 I 



410 OF SANCT1FJLCAT10N. 

habits or principles of grace, there can be no spiritual War- 
fare, — as there is no law of the mind to resist the law of 
our members ; — no spirit to lust against our flesh, or inward 
corruption: — but acts of faith, and acts of unbelief; acts of 
love to God, and acts of enmity against him ; acts of pride, 
and acts of humility, — must proceed from the same corrupt 

habits, as excited by the Spirit of God, or not. And yet, 

an excitement of bad principles by him to perform acts spi- 
ritually good, is absolutely inconceivable. 15. Without inhe- 
rent habitual holiness, there can be no spiritually good acts at 
all : How absurd to suppose, that they can exist without pro- 
ceeding from any created principle, — and still more so to 
imagine, that they can proceed from a desperately wicked prin- 
ciple ? Mat. vii. 17, 18. Luke vi. 43 — 45. Rom. viii. 7, 8. 
16. Without inherent habits or principles of grace, there can be 
no spiritual experience, as we are not fit objects for the Holy 
Ghost to nourish, cherish, or comfort, — or capable to discern 
and feel his influence. 17. Without inherent habits or principles 
of grace, there can be no work of sanctification, — no renovation 
of the whole man after the image of God j and hente no en- 
abling us to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness. 18. With- 
out permanent habits and vital principles of grace, there can be 
no examination of our state before God. — There is no indwell- 
ing life to be discovered, — no abiding faith for us to have, or be 
in, — no standing difference between saints and sinners j— - and 
nothing but rootless chimerical acts of faith, to be marks whether 
we are in Christ or not. Moreover, the Scripture never repre- 
sents good like acts, be their number ever so great, as marks of 
our gracious state, but in so far as they are connected with, and 
proceed from inherent graces. — It is not acts, but abiding 
habits, which constitute the proper difference between the righ- 
teous and the wicked. Men's good works do not make them 
good ; but being made good by implantation of inherent graces, 
they bring forth good works, as the native fruit of their inward 
renovation, and a manifest proof that it hath taken place. 
19. Without inherent habits of grace, there can be no perseverance 
in grace, there being no gracious quality for God to preserve, 
or for us to persevere in. — But we must be in, or out of 
real grace, as we are actually employed in acts of faith or re- 
pentance, or not. 20. Without inherent habits or principles of 
holiness, there can be no preparation for the Lord's Supper, or 
for death. Habitual preparation is expressly excluded ; and 
without it there can be no actual preparation but what proceeds 
from corrupt principles. 21. Without inherent habits of im- 
planted holiness, there can be no growth in grace, in time, 
or perfection in it at death. Acts being altogether transient, 
cannot, after they have been acted, be rendered more lively, 
vigorous, or holy. And indeed, such as proceed from no 



OP SANCTIFIUATION. 411 

gracious principles, are not fit to be increased in any respect. 
22. Either, then, acquired habits of holiness must make us meet 
for heaven ; or God must implant gracious habits, though he 
never would, or could do it before ; — or he must admit us to 
heaven, in our chimerical acts of faith, which proceed from no 
inherent grace ; or he must damn us all for want of habitual 
grace and holiness. 

This habitual grace implanted by the Spirit of God, in rege- 
neration, inclines our hearts to correspondent acts, with impar- 
tiality, evenness, and constancy, and enables us to perform the m 
readily and willingly, to their proper end. And as our indwell- 
ing corruption may be considered as one sinful habit, diversified 
into the several lusts of the flesh and of the spirit, so our im- 
planted and inherent grace may be considered as one simple ha- 
bit of holiness or grace in itself, but diversified in correspon- 
dence to the powers of our soul, in which it dwells, or to the 
manner in which it acts upon its object. 1. Our mind or un- 
derstanding is renewed, and through the Holy Ghost's all-pow- 
erful manifestation of divine truth, is endowed with sight, light, 
wisdom, and knowledge, that it can think, perceive, judge, es- 
teem, devise, search, reason, and deliberate concerning spiritual 
things in a just, spiritual, and heart-engaging manner, 2 Cor. 
iii. 13, 14. Isa. liv. 13. Jer. xxxi. 33, 34. John vi. 44, 45, 65. 
Heb. x. 32. Rom. viii. 5, 6. Gal. i. 16. Eph. i. 17, 18. iii. 17 
— 19. 1 Cor. ii. 10, 12, 15, 16. Rom. vii. 23, 24. viii. 28— 39. 
1 Cor. xv. 8, 58. 1 John ii. 8, 13. Mat. xvi. 17, 25, 26. 2 Cor. iii. 
18. iv. 6, 18. Col. iii. 10. 2. Our conscience being purged by the 
blood of Christ, and awed by the majesty of God reconciled in 
him, is enlightened, directed, quickened, quieted, and made ten- 
der, faithful and impartial, Heb. ix, 14. x. 19 — 22. 1 Tim. i. 5. 
Psalm lxxxvi. 11. Job xxxi. 14, 23. Phil. i. 9, 10. Psalm xxv. 
4, 5, 7. Eph. i. 7. v. 14. Actsxxiv. 16. 2 Cor. i. 12. Heb. xiii. 
18. 3. Our will, captivated with the manifested excellency, 
love, and fulness of Christ, and of God in him, is renewed in 
its inclinations, choice, delight, and aim, and endowed with 
power to govern our soul, and with a readiness to be impressed 
with spiritual things, Deut. xxx. 6. Psalm ex. 3. Jer. xxxi. 33. 
Heb. viii. 10. Ezek.xxxvi. 26, 27. xi. 19, 20. 4. Our affec- 
tions being captivated with the manifested love and loveliness of 
Christ, and of God in him, are renewed and rectified with re- 
spect to their objects, order, and degree, Gal. v. 17, 24. Psalm 
xviii. 1 — 3. xxxi. 21, 22. lxxxiv. 1, 2, 10. xlii. 1, 2. cxix. 122, 
136, xxxv. 17, 27. lxxiii. 25, 26. 5. Our memory, purged by 
the Spirit of God, and attracted by important and eternal 
things, is qualified to forget injuries, errours, and trifles, and to 
retain God's truths and works, and the impressions thereby 
made, Luke ii. 51. Lam. iii. 20, 21. Gen. xlviii. 3. Jer. xxxi. 



412 Of SANCTTFJCATION. 

3. Psalm cxix. 49, 52, 93. 6. Our body is renewed in respect 
of its use, and being governed by our renewed heart, is drawn 
off from its wonted readiness to be instrumental in wickedness, 
to a readiness in the exercises of holiness, 1 Cor. vi. 13, 19,20. 
ix. 27. Psalm cxli. 3. Job xxxi. 1, 8. Rom. xii. 1. vi. 13, 19. 

This newness of nature implanted in our regeneration, or be- 
gun sanctification, and carried on to perfection in our increasing 
sanctification, in respect of its diversified agency towards dif- 
ferent objects, may be distinguished into the several permanent 
habits or graces of knowledge, faith, love, hope, repentance, 
which are the members of our new man, or divine nature. 1. As 
this implanted supernatural habit, or new nature, is opposed to 
sinful ignorance, stupidity, and folly, and as it conceives aright 
of objects connected with our duty and our everlasting happi- 
ness, it is spiritual knowledge, eyes to see,ears to hear, and an 
heart to understand, Eph. i. 17, IS. 2 Tim. iii. 15. Deut. xxix, 
3, 4. This includes knowledge of ourselves, — of the worth of our 
souls, — of our state before God, — of our temper and endow- 
ments, — and of our conduct in its principle, motives, manner, 
and ends, 2 Cor. xiii. 5. ; and of the manifold deceitfulness and 
corruptions of our heart, Jer. xvii. 9. Heb. iii- 12. 1 Kings viii. 
32. ; knowledge of Christ, in his person, natures, offices, rela- 
tions, qualifications, work, and fulness, Gal. i. 16. 1 Cor. ii. 2. 

Phil. iii. 7, 8, 9. John i. 14. ; and knoxvlcdgeof God, in his 

perfections, persons, purposes, works, doctrines, laws, promises, 
and threatenings, as connected with, and manifested in Chris*, 
Jer. ix. 23, 24. Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. Jer. xxxi. 34. John i. 18. 
2 Cor. iv. 4, 6. 2. As this new nature disposes and enables us 
to believe and rest assured upon the testimony of God, and to 
receive and rest upon Jesus Christ as revealed, promised, offer- 
ed, and given in his gospel, — it is called faith, Heb. xi. 13. 

1 Tim. i. 15. John i. 12. Phil. iv. 6. 1 Pet. v. 7.- There is a 

faith of miracles, or persuasion of Gyd's readiness to work some 
supernatural effect upon us, or at our request, Acts xiv. 9. 1 Cor. 
xiii. 2. Luke xvii. 6. Mat. xvii. 20. viii. 10. ix. 2. John xi. 40. ; 
— an historical faith, or persuasion of the truth of God's decla- 
rations, without any cordial application of them to ourselves, 
John xii. 42. Acts xxvi. 27. James ii. 19. and in part Rom. xiv. 
22,23. ; — and ^temporary faith, or transient persuasion of gospel 
truths, attended with some slight affectionate application of them 
to ourselves, Mat. xiii. 20, 21. Mark vi. 20. John v. 35. Heb. 
vi. 4, 5. x. 26. 2 Pet. ii. 20. Isa. lviii. 2. Ezek. xxxiii. 31. But 
none of these is the true, saving, unfeigned, precious, most ho- 
ly, heart-purifying, and love-producing faith of God's elect, 
which is included in the new nature. James ii. 26. 1 Tim. i. 5. 

2 Tim. i. 5. 2 Pet. i. 1. Jude 20. Acts xv. 9. Gal. v. 6. Heb. x. 
22. Tit. i. 1. 2 Thes. iii. 2. John i. 12. Mark xvi. 16. In 



OK SANCTttlCATION. ,11.'. 

the whole exercise of this saving faith, there is included an as- 
sured belief of God's declarations, upon his own testimony. But 
this assurance is stronger or weaker, less or more mingled with 
doubting and unbelief, in different saints, and in the same saint 
at different times, Rom. iv. 19, 20. Mat. xiv. 30, 31 — It is 
strong and J'ull, when we disregard every objection that presents 
itself against the testimony of God, Rom. iv. 19, 20. 2 Chron. 
\x. 20. ; when Christ is highly prized and firmly trusted. Psalm 
lxxiii. 25. Job xiii. 15. ; when great difficulties are cheerfully 
encountered and gone through, 2 Cor. xii. 7 — 10. Job i. 21,22. 
ii. 10. Acts v. 41. Psalm cxii. 7 . ; when there is a bold, but hum- 
ble familiarity with God maintained, Heb. iv. 16. x. 22. Phil, 
iii. 20. Gal. iv. 6. Rom. viii. 15, 16; when the persuasion of 
his redeeming love is tenaciously retained, notwithstanding fear- 
ful hidings and frowns, Gal. ii. 20. Rom. viii. 32 — 39. Psalm 
xxii. 1. lxxxviii. 1. xlii. 9 — 11.; and when his promises are held 
fast, and firmly relied on while his providence appears very con- 
trary to them, Rom. iv. 19, 20. Heb. xiii. 5. xi. 11, 17 — 19. 
Job xiii. 15. Psalm exxxviii. 7. lxxi. 20, 21. Hab. iii. 17, 18. — 
This strong and full assurance of faith much honours God, 
Rom. iv. 19, 20. Mat. xv. 22 — 2S. ; remarkably supports and 
comforts believers themselves, Psalm xxvii. 1 — 3, 13, 14. cxviii. 
5 — 18. ; and powerfully promotes practical piety, Gal. v. 6. 
1 Tim. i. 5. Luke i. 74, 75. 3. As the new nature disposes and 
enables us to look forward to God's promised benefits, and ear- 
nestly to expect and wait for the enjoyment of them, it is call- 
ed hope, Psalm cxix. 81. Rom. viii. 24. 2 Cor. iv. IS. Heb. vh 

18, 19. Faith fixes on all the declarations of God relating to 
things past, present, or future ; and peculiarly regards the truth 
of them, Heb. xi. 3, 13. Acts viii. 37. But hope fixes only upon 
promises of future good things, Rom. viii. 24. Heb. vi. 11,18, 

19. 4. As the new nature disposes and enables us to desire, 
cleave to, and delight in Christ, and God in him, and what is 
related to him, or for his honour, it is called love. Christ and 
his Father are loved for their excellencv, relations, and kind- 
ness to us; and ordinances, saints, Sec. for their sake, Song i. 
2 — 4. v. 10 — 16. Psalm cxv. 1 — 3. civ. 34. exxxix. 17, 18. 
xxxvii. 4, 7. xviii. 1—3. xlii. 1,2. lxxxiv. 1,2, 10. ciii. 1 — 6. 
cxvi. cxix. Eph. iv. 30. 1 Thes. v. 19. Psalm cxix. 63. Ii. 18. 
cii. 13 — 22. exxxvii. 5 — 7. exxii. exxxii. Phil. i. 21. 2 Cor. v. 
1 — 7. 5. As this new nature disposes and enables us to a kindly 
sorrow for, and hatred of our past and present sinfulness, and to 
turn from it to God, as our reconciled Father in Christ, with 
full purpose of, and endeavour after new obedience, it is called 
REPfxTANCK, Acts v. 31.xi. 18. 2 Cor. vii. 11. Jer. xxxi. 18, 19. 
iii. 13, 21, 23.; — the exercise of which proceeds from a true 
faith of the law and gospel of God, — from a true sense of our 



414 OF SANCTIFICATION. 

sins, as contrary to his nature and law, and as murderous to 
Christ our Saviour, as defiling and destructive to our immortal 
souls, Ezra ix. 6, 15. Job xl. iv. xlii. 5, 6. Psalm li. 1—5. Isa. 
lxiv. 6. vi. 5. Zech. xii. 10. Rom. vii. 14 — 24. ; — and from a be- 
lieving application of God's forgiving them, through the blood 
of his Son, Ezek. xvi. 62, 63. xxxvi. 25, 31, 32. Jer. xxxi. 18 
— 20. Zech. xii. 10. Acts ii. 36 — 38. ; — and it consists in an 
hearty, godly, universal, proportioned, superlative, and fixed 
grief for our sin, jer. ii. 19. Lam. iii. 28. Psalm vi. 6. li. 3, 5. 
xxxii. 5. Kom. vii. 24.; — in a gracious, self-loathing, constant, 
universal, proportioned, superlative, and, in aim, perfect hatred 
of sin as such, in every appearance of it, Psalm cxix. 104, 113. 
Rom. vii. 14, 23, 24. Gal. v. 17, 24. Job xlii. 5, 6. Ezek. xxxvi. 
31. Psalm cxxsix. 21 — 23.; — and in an humble, hearty, ear- 
nest, and universal turning from it as a pleasure to God in Christ, 
as our portion and Master, companion and Lord, with full pur- 
pose of, and endeavour after true evangelical obedience, new in 
its foundation, principle, motives, manner, and ends, Jer. xxxi. 
18 — 20. Luke xv. 18, 20. Hos. xiv. 1—3, 8. Acts xi. 23. Josh. 
xxiv. 15. Psalm cxix. 59, 60. 

This evangelical repentance is exceedingly different from that 
legal fear, grief for, and rage against sin, which are produced 
by the convictions of unregenerate men. 1. In their order. 
Legal repentance follows a legal faith of the broken law only ; 
but this evangelical repentance also follows the saving faith of 
the gospel, Acts xvi. 30. Zech. xii. 10. 2. In their cause. Le- 
gal repentance proceeds from apprehensions cf God's revenging 
wrath, manifested in his threatenings and judgments, Gen. iv. 
10 — 14. Mat. xxvii. 3,4. Exod. ix. 27. ; but evangelical repent- 
ance proceeds from apprehensions of God's revenging wrath ma- 
nifested in Christ's death, and of the free and full pardon of all 
oursins, Isa. vi. 5. Dan.ix. Ezraix- Zech. xii. 10. Ezek. xvi. 62, 
63. 3. In their object. In legal repentance men are chiefly affected 
with their gross sins, and of the connection of punishments with 
them, Gen. iv. 13, 14. Mat. xxvii. 4. But, in evangelical re- 
pentance, they are chiefly affected with secret and beloved sins, 
and with sin as odious to God and defiling to their soul, Psalm 
li. 4, 5. Rom. vii. 14, 23, 24. 4. In their effects. Legal re- 
pentance turns men only from gross acts of sin, Works death, 
fills with inward rage against God, and often leads to self-mur- 
der, 1 Kings xxi.27, 29. Gen. iv. 13. Mat. xxvii. 4, 5. 2 Cor. 
vii. 10. ; but evangelical repentance turns men from the love of 
every sin, and works salvation and eternal life, 2 Cor. vii. 1J. 
Psalm cxix. 104, 113. Actsxi. 18. 5. In their connection with 
divine pardons. Legal repentance having no spiritual gootl in 
it, hath no proper connection with divine pardon, though God 
often make it an introduction to it, Actsii. 37. Rom. vii. 8 — 13.; 



OF SANCT1KICATIOH. 415 

but evangelical repentance is the necessary fruit and evidence of 
God's judicial pardon in justification, and the mean of further 
intimations of it, of fatherly pardons and removals of corrections 
for sin, Isa. xliv. 22. Jer. iii. 12, 14, 15, 21, 22,23. Hos. xiv. 
1 — 3, 8. — And, though it be impossible, under legal guilt, which 
tends to destroy men, and binds them under the dominion of 
their sin, 1 Cor. xv- 56. Rom. vii. 5, 8 — 13, yet it takes place un- 
der that guilt which binds over to God's fatherly anger, that is 
real love to our persons, and tends to make us partakers of his 
holiness, Jer. iii. 1,12, 13, 14,22. xxxi. 18 — 20. Hos. xiv. 1, 8. 
Heb. xii. 6 — 11. Psalm xciv. 12. Prov. iii. 12. Rev. iii. 19. 

Evangelical repentance of our sins is most reasonable and 
necessary. 1. God often expressly requires it, Ezek. xxxiii. 
11. Isa. i. 16 — 18. lv. 7. xliv. 22. Jer. iii. Hos. xiv. 1. 2. 
His perfections, as manifested in Christ by the gospel, and 
all promises confirmed in Christ's person and righteousness, 
mightily encourage to it, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. Isa. lv. 7. i. 18. 
Mic. vii. 18, 19. Hos. xiv. Jer. iii. 3. Christ's execution of 
all his offices, and .all saving discoveries of him, powerfully 
promote it, Mark i. 14. Acts iii. 26. v. 31. Rom. xi. 26. Zech. 
xii. 10. Isa. vi. 5, 7. 4. God's providential favours and frowns, 
as well as our own convictions and pressures of conscience, 
call to it, Rom. ii. 4. Jer. vi. 8. Hos. ii. 6, 7, 14. v. 15. Acts 
ii. 38. iii. 19. 5. The approved examples of all the saints 
powerfully invite and excite to it, Heb. xii. 1. Job vii. 20. xl. 
4. xlii. 5, 6. 2 Sam. xxiv. 10. Isa. lxiv. 6. vi. 5. Jer. iii. 21. 
xvi. 19. xxxi. 18 — 20. Ezra ix. Psalm li. xxxviii. Dan. ix. — 
And delay of it is infinitely dangerous, — as the present mo- 
ment may be our last, Prov. xxvii. 1. Luke x. 20. xiii. 3, 5. ; 
all continuance in sin is a reacting all our former sins with 
new aggravations, — hardens our hearts in sin, increases our in- 
ward corruption, and makes repentance more difficult, Rom. 
ii. 4. Psalm xcv. 7. Heb. iii. 7, 8, 13, 15. ; provokes God to 
deny us grace to repent, Hos. iv. 17. Gen. vi. 3. Psaim lxxxi. 
11, 12. xcv. ll.;-and loses much opportunity of honouring God, 
and of advancing our own holiness and comfort, Psal. lxxviii. 
S3, xc. 9. Nor, in 4000 years, have we more than one in- 
stance of true repentance in dying moments, — when the Son 
of God was expiring and triumphing over Satan, on his cross, 
Luke xxiii. 42, 43. 

These graces are jointly exercised in our spiritual acts. 
Thus, in our reception of Christ, our spiritual knowledge dis- 
cerns him and our warrant to appropriate him ; we by faith 
rest on the faithfulness, power, and love of God, manifested 
in the gospel grant of him, and upon him as able and willing 
to answer every end of our salvation, for which he is offered 
in the gospel ; we affectionately delight in, desire after, and 



416 OF SANCT1FICATION, 

are satisfied with him, and with God in him ; and we are 
ashamed of, and loathe ourselves as guilty, polluted, and miser- 
able. And hence some divines attribute that to one grace, par- 
ticularly to faith, which properly belongs to another. 

From the inbeing and proper exercise of these graces, pro- 
ceed many delightful Christian Tempers, acquired gracious 
liabils, or fruits of our new spirit, under the influence of the 
Holy Ghost, Gal. v. 22, 23. Eph. v. 9. As, 1. Christian wis- 
dom and prudence, — enabling us to propose proper ends of con- 
duct, — choose proper means, — and execute them in a proper 
place, time, and manner, and by proper instruments ; — to dis- 
cern what enemies are most dangerous, and how we may best 
prevent their hurting us, — what friends or companions are 
most proper and useful for us, and how to improve familiarity 
with them to the best advantage ; — when, and how to oppose, 
or condescend to, our friends and neighbours, or to reprove 
and warn them most to their and our advantage; — to discern 
how to attend God's ordinances, and improve his providences 
to the best advantage, in honouring him, and profiting our- 
selves or our neighbours ; — and how to live most inoffensively 
and usefully amidst a crooked and perverse generation, Prov. 
i. 3, 4. Matth. x. 16, 17. Eph. v. 15—17. 2. Spirituality of 
mind, which is manifested in our deliberate esteeming and 
choosing spiritual things, and in the fixed, and, as it were, 
natural bent of our affections towards them, and habitual em- 
ployment of our thoughts upon them, — in our alertness and 
activity in prosecution of them, and ready preference of them 
to every temporal concern, Rom. viii. 5, 6. 1 Cor. ii. 15. 
3. Godliness, manifested in our ready reception of God's testi- 
mony, Job xxiii. 12. Psalm lx. 6. Jer. xv. 16. Psalm Ixxxv. 
8. 1 Thess. ii. 13 ; fixed trust in, and reverential fear of him, 
Psalm lxii. 8. lxxxix. 7 . Rev. xv. 4. ; superlative love of him, 
and unreserved obedience to him, Matth. xxii. S7. Heb. xi. 8.; 
cordial submission' to his disposing will, Matth. vi. 10. lSam. 
iii. 18. 2 Sam. xvi. 11, 12.; and earnest care to imitate and 
approve ourselves to him, 1 Pet. i. 15,16. Mat. v. 48. Luke 
vi. 35, 36. Rom. xvi. 10. 2 Tim. ii. 15. Col. i. 10. 4. Turc- 
ness of heart, including a conscience sprinkled with Christ's 
blood, Heb. ix. 14. x. 22. 1 Tim. i. 5. ; inward hatred and ab- 
horrence of sin, and of all temptations to it, or appearances of 
it, particuarly that which tends towards fleshly lust, Mat. v. 
8, 28 — 31. Rom. vii. 24. xii. 9. 2 Tim. ii. 16, 19, 22. 1 Pet. 
ii. 11. 1 Thess. v. 22. ; — and permanent grief on account of 
past impurities or inherent corruptions, Job xl. 4. Rom. vii. 
14 — 24. 5. Sincerity, which includes our singly aiming to 
please and honour God in all that we do, 2 Tim. ii. 15. Col. 
:. 22. ; and impartial desire and endeavour to know the whole 



QF SANCTIFICATION. flT 

of our duty, Job xxxiv. 32. Psalm cxix. 5, 27, 33, 34. ; — our 
earnestly practising that which we know, Psalm cxix. 58 — 60. ; 
with an exact correspondence between our inward sentiments 
and our external conduct, 2 Cor. i. 12. Acts xxiii. 1. xxiv. 
16. 6. Humility ; which includes a low esteem of our own 
knowledge, — humbly observing the imperfections of our facul- 
ties, and our readiness to mistake, — the great attainments of 
others, — and the small importance of that knowledge which is 
not attended with a correspondent holy practice ; — low thoughts 
of our goodness, as borrowed from God, — undeserving and 
insignificant before him, — unanswerable to our opportunities, 
— and much inferiour to that of some fellow-christians ; — hum- 
ble sense of our dependence on God, and even on the meanest 
of his creatures, — of our infinite meanness 7 ;. before him, and 
our sinfulness and rebellion against him, and wretched abuse 
of his favours ; — and hence a readiness to receive his distin- 
guishing mercies, walk humbly with him, and always depend 
on him, — unreservedly accepting all his gospel-grants, and 
obeying all his commandments; a fixed disposition to behave 
humbly toward our neighbours, preferring them to ourselves 
jn love and esteem, — never despising them for their meanness, 
falls, or infirmities, — meekly reproving their faults, — readily 
receiving their reproofs, and kindly confessing and amending 
our mistakes ; — an abhorrence of self-praise or preference, 
and boasting, — and all flattery of others ; — and a readiness to 
receive favours with thankfulness, endure contempt without 
passion, and to serve in the lowest stations with cheerfulness, 
James iv. 6, 10. 1 Pet. v. 5, 6. Phil. ii. 3. Luke xiv. 10. xviii. 
14. 2 Cor. x. 13, 14. 7. Meekness, including a ready and 
full subjection of soul to God's authority in his word, and 
cheerful resignation to his providence, — an inward calmness 
under provocation, and readiness to forgive injuries from men ; 
— carefulness to avoid offending others ; a modest comport- 
ment of ourselves with our worldly circumstances ; and a mild 
and gentle deportment toward all ai'ound us, in temporal and 
religious concerns, Gal. v. 23. 2 Tim. ii. 23. 1 Tim. vi. 11. 
1 Pet. iii. 4. Zeph. ii. 3. 8. Patience, which includes a meek 
bearing of continued injuries from men, — a kindly receiving- 
heavy and manifold afflictions from the hand of God, and a 
submissive waiting for his promised favours, Psalm xxvii. 13, 
14. xxxvii. 1 — 8. lxii. 1, 5. exxx. 5. exxiii. 1 — 4. Job xxxv. 
14. Isa. xxx. 18. xxviii. 16. James i. 4. v. 7, 8, 11. 9. Peace- 
ableness, which includes an earnest carefulness to avoid giving, 
or groundless taking offence ; — to maintain peace when en- 
joyed, and regain it when lost, by satisfying the offended, 
and by convincing and forgiving offenders, Heb. xii. 14. Psalm 
xxxiv. 14, Matth. v. 9. Rom. xii. 18. xiv. 19. Gal. v. 22. 

3 K 



418 OF SANCTIFICATION. 

10. Tenderness of Heart, which includes a quick sense of spi- 
ritual things, — an inward pliableness to divine influence, — a 
readiness to engage heartily in known duties, and to mourn 
for dishonour done to God, and for the falls and afflictions of 
men, 2 Kings xxii. 19.Eph. iv. 32. 11. Bravery, Fortitude, 
or Virtue, which includes ability to suppress slavish fears of 
seemingly approaching calamities ; steady boldness in lawful 
resolutions ; undaunted and lively application to even the most 
difficult Christian exercises ; and uniform steadfastness in pro- 
secution of good purposes and dutiful endeavours, 2 Pet. i. 5. 
12. Zeal, which consists in an earnest abhorrence of that which 
is evil, and eager desire to maintain and promote that which 
is good. It is truly regular, when we are zealous against that 
"which we know to be bad, and for that which we know to be 
good; — when it is proportioned to the" importance of things ; — 
when it influences us to an earnest study of holiness and vir- 
tue ; — and when, in the exercise of it, we avoid all uncharita- 
bleness toward others, and all expedients improper in them- 
selves, or unanswerable to our station, for the advancement of 
truth or piety, Psal. lxix. 9. cxix. 139. Gal. iv. 18. 13. Tem- 
perance, which imports a stated aversion from such meat, 
drink, or bodily pleasure, as would indispose our body for sub- 
jection to, and service of our soul, or would not comport with 
our outward circumstances ; — or would mispend our time, mar 
the due exercise of our reason, promote irregular desires, 
taint our spirits with a wrong bias, unfit us for Christ's se- 
cond coming, dishonour that outward property which God has 
given us, or rob him of that which ought to be expended in 
his service, 2 Pet. i. 6. Luke xxi. 34. Gal. v- 23. 14. Equity 
or Justice, which is a fixed inclination to render to God, to 
ourselves, and to our neighbours, their respective dues ; and 
to wrong ourselves in worldly claims, rather than wrong our 
neighbour, Rom. xiii. 7, 8. Mat. xxii. 19,21, 37,39. vii. 12. 
15. Mercifulness, which consists in a tender sympathy with, 
and pity of those that are in danger, distress, or poverty ; 
and strong inclination to relieve them to the uttermost of our 
power, Psalm xli. 1. xviii. 25. Matth. v. 7- Col. iii. 12. 1 Pet. 
iii. 8. iv. 8. 16. Truth, Candour, and Faithfulness, which in- 
clude a fixed aversion from every form or degree of deceit or 
falsehood, and an inclination earnestly to maintain and pro- 
mote truth on every proper occasion, and to act up to every 
thing which our character, relations, trust, or engagements re- 
quire from us, Psalm xv. 2, 3. Luke xvi. 10 — 12. To ren- 
der all these tempers truly Christian, they must be produced 
in hearts united to Christ, by gracious virtue derived from 
Christ and his Spirit, through his word dwelling in us richly, 
in conformity to Christ, and exercised in obedience to the 



OF SAKCTTFICATIOV 4i9 

authority of Christ, and aiming at his honour and the honour 
of God in him, 1 Pet. i. 4—8. Gal. v. 22, 23. ii. 20. 2 Tim. ii. 
1. 2 Cor. i. 12. Phil. iv. 13. 

The above-mentioned implanted Graces and acquired Tem- 
per*, are exercised in our dying to sin and living to righteousness. 
This gradual dying to sin is necessary, because we are never 
perfectly purged from our sinful corruption in this life. — In- 
deed believers are freed from the dominion and slavery of sin, 
Rom. vi. J, 11, 14, 18. viii.2. John viii. 32, 36.; and are perfect, 
1. In Christ their Head, Col. ii. 10. 2. They are sound, can- 
did, and sincere, — indulging themselves in no known sin, Job i. 
1, 8. Gen. vi. 9. Isa. xxxviii. 3. 3. Every faculty of their 
soul, and power of their nature, is renewed in part, 1 Thess. v. 
23. 2 Cor. v. 17. Gal. vi. 15. 4. They aim at perfect obedience 
to the whole law of God, Luke i. 6. Phil. iv. 8. iii. 14, 15. 
S. They are more perfect than other men, Gen. vi. 9. Nay, 
some of them are more perfect in gifts and graces than other 
believers, — those under the New Testament than those under 
the Old, 1 Cor. ii. 6. Gal. iv. 1—3. Phil. iii. 15. Heb. v. 13, 
14. 1 John ii. 13, 14. But none of them, in this life, are 
completely delivered from the pollution and working of indwell- 
ing corruption. 1. Scripture represents them all as defiled 
with, and guilty of sin, 1 Johni. 8, 10. James iii. 2. Prov. xx. 
Q. Eccl.vii. 20. Psalm cxlii. 2. cxxx. 3. 1 Kings viii. 38, 46. 
Gal. v. 17. Job xv. 14. xxv. 4. 2. None can bear the yoke of 
God's law, so as to be thereby justified ; — perfect obedience to 
the moral law being much more difficult than to the ceremonial, 
Acts xv. 10. 3. All believers are taught by Christ to pray 
daily for the pardon of their sins, Mat. vi. 12. Luke xi. 4. 
<i. The most eminent saints mentioned in Scripture are charged 
with sins, even such as were directly contrary to their predomi- 
nant graces, as Noah, Gen. ix. 21.; Abraham, Gen. xii. 13, 19. 
xx. 2.; Job, chap. iii. ix. 3, 20,28. xv. 5. vii. 20.; Moses, Num. 
xi. 15, 22. xx. 10, 12. ; Psalm cvi. 33. ; David, Psalm xxxii. 6. 
xxv. 11. Ii. cxxx. 3. cxliii. 2. 2 Sam. xi. xxiv. ; Solomon, 
1 Kings xi. Isaiah, chap. vi. 5 lxiv. 6.; Jeremiah, chap. xii. 1. 
xx. 7 — 18.; Daniel, Dan. ix. 6.; John, 1 John i. 8, 10.; James, 
Jam. iii. 2. ; Paul, Rom. vii. 14 — 25. — This last passage cannot 
respect an unregenerate man ; for, 1 . Paul speaks as plainly of 
himself as words can express, relative to his condition just when 
he was writing. 2 In the verses immediately preceding, he 
had spoken of himself in the past time, representing what he 
had been; but here he changes the time, and represents himself 
as presently under that powerful influence of sin. 3. This pas- 
sage respects a person that willed that which is good, — that con- 
sented to, and delighted in the law of God, after his inward man, 
< — and that felt the remains of indwelling corruption as his 



420 OP SANCTIFICATIOtf. 

heaviest burden, — and had an inward man which did not sin,- 
law in his mind, which xvarred against the remains of his in- 
dwelling lusts ; — none of which things are applicable to unrege- 
nerate men. 4. There is nothing in the whole passage which 
could unfit Paul to be a distinguished example of piety and vir- 
tue, Phil. iii. 12 — 14. 2 Cor. i. 12. Acts xxiv. 16. 

To anticipate objections, it must be observed, that, 1. Christ's 
yoke is easy, and his burden light, and his commandments not 
grevious to believers, — as they delight therein, and are enabled 
by him to obey in an acceptable, though imperfect, manner ; 
and his blood covers their defects, Mat. xi. 30. 1 John v. 3. 
Psalm cxix. 97. Rom. vii. 22. Isa. xl. 31. Zech. x. 12. Phil. 
iv. 13. Rev. vii. 14. xix. 8. 2. Believers art free from sin, i. c. 
from its legal guilt, dominion, and slavery, Rom. vi. 2, 7, 11, 
1 8. } and do not sin, do not make a trade of sinning with pleasure 
and delight. Not being under the law as a covenant, they can- 
not sin against it, — and their new nature, being born of God, 
cannot sin at all, 1 John iii. 9. v. 18. John viii. 34. 3. All 
things are nossible to them that believe. By the prayer of faith, 
they can obtain every thing that is for their real advantage j 
and, in Christ's strength, they can patiently Endure all the 
changes which God's providence makes in their lot, Mark ix. 
23. Phil. iv. 13. 

God permits the continuance and frequent prevalence of sin- 
ful corruptions in believers, while they live on earth, 1. To cor- 
rect them for former sins, Psalm lxxxi. 11, 12. 2. To mani- 
fest to them the abundance and power of their secret sinfulness, 
Psalm xix. 12, 13. Rom. vii. 1,4 — 25. 3. To manifest the de- 
ceitfulness and desperate wickedness of sin, and render it more 
hateful to them, Heb. iii. 12, 13, Rom. vii. 14 — 24. Psalm li. 
4. To make them more deeplv sensible of their need of Jesu3 
Christ as their righteousness and strength, Mat. ix. 12, 13. Isa. 
xlv. 24. 5. To lead them to a constant and close dependence 
upon him, as made of God to them wisdom, righteousness, sanc- 
tification, and redemption ; and to much study of familiar fel- 
lowship with God in prayer, Heb. xii. 1, 2. Isa. xlv. 24. Psal. 
xxv. 2. 2 Cor. xii. 7 — 9. 6. To render them humble, 2 Cor. 
xii. 7. Isa. vi. 5. lxiv. 6- Phil. iii. 8, 9. Rom. vii. 14 — 25. 
1 Tim. i. 15. 7. To excite them to more activity and watch- 
fulness, in the mortification of sin, Mark xiii. 27. xiv. 38. 2 Pet. 
ii. 1. v. 8. Heb. xii. 12. James i. 21. Col. iii. 5. 8. To dispose 
them to extend their charity and Christian fellowship to the 
weakest followers of Christ, Heb. x. 24,25. Rom. xiv. 1. 9. To 
wean their affections from things on earth, and make them long 
for the hea\enly puritv and happiness, Gen. xlix. 18. Phil. i. 
21, 23. 2 Cor. v. 1 — 7. Tit. ii. 12, 13. 10. That, as in other 
cases, he may produce great effects gradually— But, as most 



OP SANCTIF1CATION. 421 

of these ends could be otherwise gained, perhaps God, in this 
dispensation, chiefly intended, 1. To conform our death to sin, 
to Christ's gradual suffering or death for sin, Gal. ii. 20. Rom. 
vi. 4, 5, 6. viii. 29. 2. To manifest the exceeding riches of his 
own grace ; — for, — the more numerous and aggravated sins he 
forgives, the more of his grace, and of the virtue of Jesus' blood, 
appears in the pardon : — the more deeply sin appears to be 
rooted in our nature, the more is the grace of God exalted in 
extirpating it : — the more of our weakness appears, the more 
abundantly the grace of God is displayed in our supply, support, 
and victory over sin : — the more difficulty appears in the work 
of our salvation, the more is the free grace of God manifested 
in completely perfecting it. 

The sinful corruption of our nature, called the old man, from 
its antiquity, craftiness, and dying condition in believers, Eph. 
iv. 22. Rom. vi. 6. ; — the laiv of the members, or law of sin and 
death, from its powerful influence in many different forms to 
defile and ruin us, Rom. vii. 23, 25. viii. 2. ; — the flesh, from its 
filthiness, earthliness, and exertion of its influence through our 
body, Rom. viii. 1, 4. Gal. v. 17, 24. ; and lust, from its con- 
stant tendency toward sinful acts, Eph. ii. 2, — remains during 
this life in every believer, in all its original forms, — in igno- 
rance, pride, vanity, and falsehood, in their mind, — in stupidity, 
partiality, and aptness to call evil good, and good evil, in their 
conscience ; — in weakness to, and aversion from good, in enmity 
against God, and perverseness with respect to their chief end, in 
their will ; — in earthliness. disorder, and inordinancy, in their 
affections ; — in levity and treachery, in their memory ; — and in 
a readiness to be instrumental in unrighteousness, in their bodily 

members, Rom. vii. 14 — 25. Isa. lxiv. 6. The force of this 

indwelling corruption is weakened, and its dominion destroyed 
in regeneration ; but it must be gradually mortified in sanctifi- 
cation, Rom. viii. 2, 13. Gal. v. 24. Col. iii. 5. Eph. iv. 22. 

The mortification of this remaining sinfulness of nature 
doth not consist in concealing it, — or in diverting its particular 
lusts into some other channel of influence, — or in improving our 
natural powers in opposition to it, — or in occasional conquests 
of some particular lust in times of conviction, danger, or dis- 
tress ; — or in the utter extinction of it in this life ; but it con- 
sists in, 1 . An earnest labour to destroy the root of sin, by a 
continued application of Jesus' blood to our conscience, for the 
removal of all that guilt which defiles it from time to time, 
Heb. ix. 14. x. 19 — 22. 1 John i. 7, 9. 2. Animated by evan- 
gelical pain for it, hatred and abhorrence of it, and all its 
works, — endeavouring to lessen its power and fulness, by an 
earnest improvement of Christ's death, resurrection, word, and 
Spirit, in opposition to it, and receiving out of his fulness more 



422 i OF SANCTIPICATION. 

and more supplies of grace to take its room in the seyef al powers 
of our soul, Rom. vii. 14 — 24. Job xlii. 5, 6. Ezek. xxxvi. 31, 
32. Psalm cxliii. 12. Phil. iii. 9—14. E ph. i v. 22— 24. v. 15, 
14. Rom. xiii. 14. vi. 6. viii. 13. Col. iii. 5, 9, 10. 3. A gradual 
diminishing of our love to sin, and increase of our hatred against 
it, and all its appearances, produced by the love of God being 
shed abroad in our heart, Rom. v. 5. vii. 24, 25. Jobxl. 4. xlii. 
5, 6. Psalm cxix. 104, 113. 4. By earnest watchfulness against 
the first motions of sin and all temptations to it, diminishing 
the workings of it in thought, word, and deed, and our inclina- 
tions to them, — through the exercise of inward graces, strength- 
ened and actuated by Christ and his Spirit, Prov. iv. 23. Rom. 
vi. 12. viii. 13. Eph. vi. 1Q— 19. Phil. iv. 13. 1 Cor. xvi. 13. 
Col. iii. 5. Gal. v. 17,24. 

Hence follows a constant warfare between the indwelling 
grace and sinful corruption of believers, Song vi. 13. Rom. vii. 
23. Gal. v. 17. Eph. vi. 12. This inward warfare is not merely 
between their inclination and their conscience, or with respect 
to gross sins only, as often happens in unregenerate men ; but 
their inclinations, as far as renewed, war against their inclina- 
tions in so far as they are not renewed ; — even with respect to 
the most secret sins, Rom. vii. 24, 25. Psalm xix. 12, 13. — In 
this warfare our indwelling corruptions, assisted by Satan and 
all the enticements of this world, do, by deceit and violence, 
often prevail over our inward graces, and make us commit sin 
in thought, word, or deed, Rom. vii. 14 — 29. Isa. lxiv. 6. 
James i. 14. iii. 2. ; which prevalence hath a native tendency to 
reduce our soul under the dominion of sin, Rom. vii. 23. — But 
Christ's complete deliverance of us from under the covenant 
of works, and his removing the curse, which is the strength of 
sin, and his effectual assistance of our graces by his intercession, 
word, blood, and Spirit, and providence, not only checks this 
dreadful tendency of the motions of sin, but enables us to 
repent of, and overcome that sin into which We had fallen, 
Rom. viii. 2. vii. 4, 6, 14. Psal. li. xxxviii. 

In this spiritual warfare, nothing is of more importance than 
a vigorous exercise of self-denial, in which we, at once, die 
to sin and live unto righteousness, Matth. xvi. 24. In this 
exercise we renounce our natural, civil, and religious, as well as 
sinful self, in so far as it is apt to take the place of Jesus Christ, 
his Father, and the blessed Spirit, in our hearts or lives, Matth. 
xvi. 24. Luke xiv. 26. Tit. ii. 12. We renounce our wisdom 
and knowledge, as altogether insufficient to guide us to real 
and lasting happiness, and embrace Christ, as made of God to 
us wisdom, and his word and Spirit, for our instructor and 
director, Prov- iii. 5 — 7. 1 Cor. i. 24, 30. 2 Thess. ii. 13. We 
renounce our own qualities and works, as altogether unfit to 



OF SANCTIFICATION. 423 

justify us before God, or to be the ground of our hope, and 
price or condition of our happiness, and heartily submit to, and 
accept of, the righteousness of Christ alone, Isa. lxiv. 6. Phil. 
iii. 9. We renounce self, in all its excellencies, relations, and 
enjoyments, as altogether improper to be our portion; we seek 
and place our chief happiness in God, as our God in Christ, 
Phil. iii. 19, 20. 2 Thess. iii. 5. Col. iii. 1, 2. Psal. lxxiii. 25, 26. 
xvi. 5, 6. cxlii. 5. Lam, iii. 24. Matth. x. 37, 38. xix. 29. 
We renounce self, as altogether unfit to be our chief end, or 
any end at all, but in subordination to God, — -and direct all 
that we do, to his glory, 1 Cor. x. 31. vi. 19, 20. Col. iii. 17. 
1 Pet. iv. 11. Eph. iii. 21. Psalm cxviii. 28. Exod. xv. 1. — 
Contrary to the natural corrupt bias of our soul, we subordi- 
nate all our care for, and delight in lawful, temporal enjoy- 
ments, to a concern for that which is spiritual and eternal, 
Matth. vi. 33. John vi. 26, 27. 2 Cor. iv. 18. Luke x. 41, 42. — 
Refusing to obey our own self-will, we submit ourselves 
wholly to God, as our God and Ruler in Christ, and to his law, 
as holy, just, and good, Rom. vii. 12, 14. xiv. 8, 9. 1 Cor. 
vi. 19, 20. Deut. iv. 2. v. 32. xii. 32. Matth. xxviii. 20.— 
Renouncing our own choice, we cheerfully submit to, and 
kindly receive whatever God, our Father, and the proprietor 
of all things, is pleased to distribute to us, Job i. 21. 1 Sam. 
iii. 8. Psalm xxxix. 9. Matth. xx. 15. Phil. iv. 11 — 13. Acts 
xxi. 14. Matth. xxvi. 39, 42. John xviii. 11. — Distrusting self 
and every other creature, we, without anxiety, depend on God 
in Christ, as our God, to bestow upon us whatever is truly good 
and best for us, in his most proper time, place and manner, Jer. 
xvii. 5 — 8. Psal. Ixxxiv. 11, 12. iv. 6, 7. xxxiv. 8 — 10. lxxxv. 
12, 13. 

To live unto righteousness, is more and more to love and 
abound in inward holiness, and in the practice of good works 
proceeding from it, Job xvii. 9. Prov. iv. 18. Psalm xcii. 13, 14. 
1 Cor. xv. 58. — A good end is not sufficient to constitute our 
works good ; for, 1. Men may do that which God has forbidden 
in his law, with a good intention, John xvi. 2. Acts xxvi. 9. 
2. Men may have a kind of good intention without any proper 
knowledge of the law of God, which is the standard of our 
actions, Rom. x. 2, 3. xiv. 15. 1 Tim. i. 7, 8. 3. Not merely 
our intention, but our whole nature and exercise, are bound, 
and therefore ought to be regulated by the law of God, Deut. 

iv. 2. x-ii. 32. Matth. xxii. 37, 39. It is not sufficient to 

constitute our works good, that they be required in the law of 
God : They ought also to be performed from proper principles 
and motives, in a right manner, and to right ends, duly subor- 
dinated. And, to render our works, which are required by 

the law of God, truly evangelical, and new obedience, they must; 



424 OP SANCT1FICATION. 

be built upon a gospel foundation, — the revealed truths of God 
Relative to our free, full, and everlasting salvation, flowing from 
his free grace, reigning through the imputed righteousness of 
Christ, and the holy law, as through his fulfilment of it, turned 
into a perfect law of liberty, to direct our hearts and lives, — 
received into all the powers of our souls, John viii. 32. xiii. 17. 
James i. 21. 1 Thess. ii. 13. — They must proceed from vital 
gospel principles, — a mind enlightened with the knowledge of 
Jesus Christ, as our Saviour, Portion, and Lord ; a conscience 
sprinkled with his law-magnifying blood, and a will and affec- 
tions renewed and actuated by his indwelling Spirit, Mat. vii. 
17, 18. xii. 33 — 35. Luke viii. 15. Gal. i. 16. Heb. ix. 14. 
1 Tim. i. 5. Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 26. — They must be influenced 
by gospel motives impressing our heart, — the redeeming love of 
God, and his authority as our God in Christ, manifested in his 
law, as our rule, — the example of Christ, and of God in him, 
as our Father and friend, — and the well-grounded hope of 
eternal life as his free gift, 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. 1 John iv. 19. 
1 Thesfe. iv. 3. Eph. v. 1, 2. Heb. xii. 1, 2. 1 Cor. xv. 58. 
They must be performed in r. gospel manner, in the exercise of 
faith on Christ, as our righteousness and strength, — and of 
grateful love to him as dying for us, — and with great humility, 
reckoning ourselves infinite debtors to his grace, and after all 
that we do, less than the least of his mercies, 1 Tim. i. 5. Gal. 
ii. 19, 20,21. Phil. iv. 13. Zech. x. 12. Psalm cxvi. 16. Mic. 
vi. 8. Luke xvii. 10. Gen. xxxii. 10. — They must be performed 
to an evangelical end, to render us like God our Saviour, glorify 
God our Maker and Redeemer, profit uur neighbour, and bring 
him to God in Christ; — and to prepare us for the free, full, 
and everlasting enjoyment of God, as our redeeming all in 
all, Luke. vi. 27 — 36. 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. ii. 9. 
iii. 1. Matth. v. 16. 1 Cor. vii. 16. Rev. iii. 21. xxii. 14. 

It is not enough that we have real grace, and have done some 
truly good works : we ought always to increase and abound in 
them more and more, 2 Pet. i. 4 — 8. iii. 11, 13, 18. Tit. ii. 
11—14. iii. 8, 14. Phil. iii. 12—14. iv. 8. Heb. xii. 1—3. 1 
Cor. ix. 24. Job xvii. 9. Prov. iv. 18. And, notwithstanding 
inconceivable opposition from their indwelling corruptions, and 
their assistants, all true believers do increase in the measure, 
strength, and liveliness of their implanted graces and Christian 
tempers, and become more earnest and exact in holy thoughts, 
words, and deeds, Psal. xcii. 13, 14. lxxxiv. 7. Job xvii. 9. 
Prov. iv. 18. But they do not grow at all times, or alway in 
every respect, 2 Sam. xi. 1 Kings xi. Matth. xxvi. 69 — 74. 
— Nevertheless, through God's making all things to work to- 
gether for their good, they sometimes increase in self-acquaint- 
ance and humility, when they apprehend themselves growing 



OF SANCT1FICA110N. 425 

worse,' — even as cold and storms promote the growth of trees, 
while ihey seem to hinder it, Kom. via. 28. 2 Cor. iv. 17. Jer. 
xvii. 8. Mic. vii. 14. Hos. ii. 7, 14. Isa. xxvii. 9. Psalm cix. 67, 
71, 75. Heb. xii. 6—11. Proy. iii. 12. 

But no human works or qualities, however excellent, can 
deserve anv favour from God. The best works of unrege- 
rate men deserve nothing hnl his wrath, 1. They want all the 
former constituents of true goudntss. They are not done in 
faith, Rom. xiv. 23. Tit. i. 15. 1 Tim. i. v. ; nor in obedience 
to the authority of God in his law, Deut. xii. 32. Rom. viii. 
7, 8. Zech. vii. 5. 2. Their most useful works are represented 
as sin, Prov. xv. 8. xxi. 4, 27. xxviii. 9. Isa. i. 11 — 15. lviii. 3. 
Nay, sinning in one point renders a man a transgressor of the 
whole law, James ii. 10. 3. Unregenerate men are represented 
as fools, atheists, and most wicked, Psalm xiv. 1 — 4. Eph. ii. 
1 — 3, 12. Tit. iii. 3. Rom. i. 29—32. iii. 9—20. 4. The im- 
plantation, or beginning of grace in men, is a free gift of God's 
grace, Rom. ix. 16. Eph. ii. 4 — 10. Tit. iii. 3 — 7. 2 Cor. iii. 3, 
5. iv. 7. Rom. xi. 26, 35. — — As proper merit, oicondignily, re- 
quires, not only that the meritorious works be perfect, but 
that they be performed in our own strength, and be more than 
is due from us to God, and be equal in value to the bestowed 
reward, it is plain, that neither saints nor angels can thus merit 
any thing from God. For, 1. We owe all possible obedience 
to "his law, Psalm xcv. 6, 7. c. 2, 3. Matth. v. 48. xxii. 37, 39. 
Luke vi. 27 — 36. Rom. viii. 12. 2. All our works, which are 
truly good, are the product of God's grace within us, James 
i. 17. Phil. ii. 13. 2 Cor. iii. 5. 1 Cor. iv. 7. 3. None of our 
works are answerable to the demands of God's law, Rom. 
xvii. 18. Gal. v. 17, 18. Isa. lxiv. 6. 4. There is no equal 
proportion between the good works of finite creatures, and a 
reward of everlasting happiness, Rom. viii. 18. 2 Cor. iv. 17. 

Rom. vi. £3. iv. 4. xi. 6. Nay, believers' good works cannot, 

even by pactional merit, purchase their reward of eternal life. 
1. Their works on earth are never perfectly answerable to any 
law which God can prescribe for them, Matth. v. 4S. xxii. 37, 
39. 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. Matth. vii. 12. Isa. lxiv. 6. Eccl. vii. 20. 
1 Kings viii. 38, 46. James iii. 2. 1 John i. 8, 10. 2. The law 
of Christ, under which they are placed, being a perfect law of 
liberty, can constitute no pactional merit, James i. 25. ii. 12. 
1 Cor. ix. 21. 3. The grace of God toward them, and the 
righteousness of Christ imputed to them, leave no place for 
their pactional merit, Rom. v. 16 — 21. Heb. x. 10, 14. ix. 12. 
Eph. ii. 4 — 9. 4. The principles of faith and love, from which 
their good works proceed, suppose their full possession of Jesus* 
righteousness, which is meritorious in every respect, and of a 
full title to all the grace and glory of the new covenant, 2 Cor, 

3 L 



4&S OF SANCTIFICATIOlN. 

v. 14, 15, 21. Rom. iii. 24, 31. Gal. ii. 16, 19, 20— Indeed 
believers' good works are rewarded by God. But, 1. This re- 
ward is entirely of his own free grace, Rom. v. 21. xi. 6. vi. 23. 
2. It is bestowed upon believers, not for their works' sake, but 
because their persons are united to Christ, and accepted in him, 
1 Cor. xv. 58. Isa. xlv. 17. Psalm Ixxii. 17. 3. There is a 
mere connection of order between their good works and their 
gracious rewards, — the blessing of holy diligence being bestowed 
antecedently to remarkable happiness; — and the blessings which 
follow being proportioned to such antecedent ones as admitted 
of degrees, Rev. ii. 7, 17, 26. iii. 5, 12, 21. Luke xix. 16—19. 
To promote right conceptions, and a regular study of sancti- 
fication, the following rules must be carefully observed : 

I. The true nature of sanctification, and its manifold ingre- 
dients, must be learned with the utmost care and attention, 
Prov. xix. 2. Jer. v. 4. Hos. iv. 1, 2, 6. Isa. xxvii. 11. For ma- 
ny, through ignorance of these, take an outward profession, a 
blameless behaviour among men, formal devotion towards God, 
or even popish or heathen superstition, for true holiness, Mat. 
xix. 20. Gal. i. 14. Rom. vii. 9. Phil. iii. 5, 6. Isa. lviii. 2. Mat. 
xv. 1 — 9. — The nature and ingredients of sanctification must 
be learned from the word of God, which is the regulating stand- 
ard of it, — from the covenant of grace, which provides it for 
us as a free and gracious privilege, — and from our condition in 
this world, relative to ourselves, or to our connections with 
others, Isa. viii. 20. xxxiv. 16. John v. 39. Isa. Iv. 3. 2 Sam. 
xxiii. 5. 1 Pet. v. 8. Eph. vi. 10—20. iv. — vi. Col. iii. iv. 

II. The proper methods of attaining true holiness of nature 
and practice must be learned with the utmost accuracy and di- 
ligence. For, 1. Thelawof God, which prescribes and regulates 
our sanctification in all its matter, manner, and ends, being spi* 
ritual and exceeding broad, is not, in a proper degree, easily un- 
derstood, Rom. vii. 14. Psalm cxix. 96. And yet it must be 
wholly attended to, in our pursuing a course of true holiness, 
James ii. 10. Mat. xxii. 37—40. vii. 12. Tit. ii. 12. 2. By na- 
ture we neither know the proper method, nor have any proper 
ability to study true holiness, Eph. v. 8. ii. 1 — 3. Rom. viii. 7, 8. 
v. 6. John xv. 5, 6. vi- 44. 1 Cor. ii. 14. 3. The proper me- 
thod of sinful men's attaining true holiness can only be learned 
from the word of God, Rom. ii. 14, 15. 2 Tim. iii. 15 — 17. 
John v. 39. Isa. viii. 20. Deut. xii. 32. 4. No adult persons 
can justly hope to attain true holiness without using proper me- 
thods, Acts xxvi. 17, 18. 2 Pet. i. 2 — 4. Rom. vi. 6, 17, 18. 
Eph. vi. 10 — 19. 5. The true method of sanctification of sinful 
men being one of the great mysteries of religion, is not easily 
learned, even out of the Scriptures, 1 Tim. iii. 16. 1 Cor. i. 19-- 
34, 30. ii. 14. Psalm cxix. 5, 18. cxlxii. 10. 2 Thess. iii. 5. 6. 



OF 8ANCT1FICATION. 42/ 

A proper knowledge of the true method of sanctification is ex- 
ceedingly useful — for establishing our mind in the truths of the 
gospel, in opposition to errour ; for, if a doctrine promote univer- 
sal holiness, it is certainly true, 1 I'im. vi. 3. John xvii. 17, 18. 
Mat vii. 15, 16. ; — and for making us persevere in the study of 
holiness, Isa. lxiv. 5. 2 Tim. ii. 5, 15. 7. Through their igno- 
rance of the proper method of attaining true holiness, many con- 
tent themselves with a mere shadow of sanctification, and others 
even neglect that ; — and not a few, after they have begun an 
apparent earnestness in religion, suddenly stop, and become 
profane, or even murder themselves. 

III. There can be no proper study of true holiness, without 
being Jirst in order, furnished with an inward inclination to 
it, — a real persuasion of our reconciliation with God through 
the imputed righteousness of Christ, — a well-grounded hope of 
eternal life — thruugh his obedience and death, — and a cordial 
belief that God, by his grace, will enable us to perform our 
duty in an acceptable manner. I. We must have a fixed and 
abiding inclination towards hofmess of heart and life implanted 
in us : For, 1 . The duties of the law, such as delighting to do 
God's will, — loving him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and 
strength, — loving our neighbour as ourselves, &c. cannot be per- 
formed without such an inclination, Psalm xl. 8. Mat. xxii. 37, 
39. 1 Tim. i. 5. Luke viii. 15. Gal. v. 16, 17, 24. Job xxiii. 12. 
Psalm xix. 10. xlii. 1, 2. lxiii. 1, 2. lxxxiv. 2. 2. Both Adam 
and Christ were formed with such an inclination to qualify them 
for their study of holiness, Eccl. vii. 29. Gen. i. 27. Luke i. 

35. Heb. vii. 26. 3. By nature we have no such inclination, but 
the contrary in us, Mat. xii. 33. xv. 19. Rom. viii. 7, 8. Jer. 
xvii. 9. 4. All believers find the receipt of this inclination ab- 
solutely necessary to their studying holiness, Psalm li. 10. cxix. 

36, ST. 5. God not only requires it, but hath promised to be- 
stow it, in order to our practising holiness, Ezek. xxxvi. 26. 
xi. 19, 20. II. We must be persuaded, on God's own testimo- 
ny, of our new covenant reconciliation with him as our friend : 
1. Adam was created in high favour with God, that he might 
exercise himself in the study of holiness, Gen. i. 26; 27. ii. 16, 
17. ; and Christ was God's beloved Son, high in his favour, Mat. 
iii. 17. xvii. 5. Isa. xlii. 1. Col. i. 13. 2. Our conscience, 
when thoroughly convinced, dictates, that we can do nothing 
that is spiritually good, unless God, in his free favour, enable 
us, 1 Cor. xv. 10. 2 Cor. iii. 5. Phil. ii. 12, 13. 1 Thess. v» 
23. ; which he can only do, in consequence of removing his 
curse, which condemns us to lie under his displeasure and 
wrath, Gal. iii. 13. Rom. vi. 14. viii. 2. vii. 4, 6. 3. The du- 
ties required by the law, cannot be performed without persua- 
sion of our reconciliation to God, Mat. xxii. 37 y 39. John iv. 
16 — 19. 4. Our conscience must be purged from dead works 
to serve the living God, Heb. ix. 12, 15. k. I, 2, 4, 14, 17, 22> 



428 OF SANCTIFICA T nON. 

1 Tim. i. 5. For, if sin lie on our conscience, it will dis- 
pose us to curse God rather than to serve him, Job i. 5. 5. By 
manifesting himself as reconciled, God ordinarily encourages 
and excites to holiness, Jer. iii. 14, 22. Hos. xiv. 1 — 8. Isa. 
xliv. 22. Ezek. xvi. 62, 63. xxxvi. 25 — 31. His sacraments 
of initiation into his service import reconciliation, Gen. xvii. 
7 — 14. Acts ii. 38, 39. God began the publication of his law 
at Sinai with declarations of his being a reconciled God, Exod. 
xx. 2, 5, 7, 8, 12. xix. 5, 6. xxiv. 1 — 8. All the Jewish priests 
and Levites were admitted into their holy service, by sacrifices 
and washings, which imported reconciliation, Exod. xxix. Lev. 
viii. ix. Num. viii. Every Jewish dav, month, and year began 
with one or more sacred festivals of reconciliation with God, 
Num. xxviii. xxix. Lev. xxiii. Our Christian week begins with 
a sacred festival, and a sacramental feast of reconciliation, Acts 
xx. 7. John xx. 20, 26. 1 Cor. xi. 23 — 26. x. 16. 6. Reconci- 
liation with God is represented as the source of all genuine 
study of gospel-holiness, Eph. iv. 31, 32. v. 1, 2. 1 John ii. 12, 
15. Heb. xii. 28. Psalm cxix. 32. cxvi. 16. Luke i. 74, 75. 2 
Cor. v. 14, 15, 19. vi. 18. vii. 1. Tit. ii. 11, 12. III. We 
must have a well-grounded hope of everlasting happiness in the 
full enjoyment of God, through the imputed righteousness of 
Christ, as its proper condition and price. 1. The nature of 
our duty, particularly our love and gratitude to God, require 
this, 1 John iii. 1—3. iv. 9, 10, 19. 2. Since the fall, God 
hath always proposed this hope as men's encouragement to ho- 
liness, Heb. xii. 1, 2. 2 Cor. iv. 16—18. Heb. x. 34, 35. xi. 26. 
1 Cor. xv. 58. Psalm cxix. 166. Tit. ii. 12,. 13. 2 Pet. iii. 11, 
14, 18. 3. This the more effectually induces to holiness, as our 
eternal happiness has perfect holiness as its principal ingredient, 
1 John iii. 2, 3. Psal. cxix. 166. Hos. xi. 4. IV. We must 
have a well-grounded persuasion of God's making us able and 
willing to serve him acceptably. 1. We have no natural ability 
or willingness to serve him in this manner, Eph. ii. 1. Rom. v. 6. 
viii. 7, 8. Jer. xvii. 9. 2 Cor. iii. 5. John xv. 5. 2. The study 
of true holiness is very difficult, arid there are manv adversaries, 
Gal. v. 17, 24. Eph. vi. 10 — 20. Rom. vii. 14—24. viii. 13. 
Col. iii. v. Mat. xv. 23 — 28. xvi. 24. xix. 29. 3. God never 
sent anv a warfare on their own charges ; neither Adam, Gen. i. 
27. Eccl. vii. 29. ; nor Moses, Exod. iii. iv. ; nor Joshua, Josh. i. 
v. 13, 14. ; nor the apostle s,Mat. xxviii. 20. John xx. 21, 22. 
Acts i. 8. xxvi. 17, 18.; nor Christ, Isa. xlii. 1. xlix. 1,2. 1. 7, 
9. Ixi. 1. xi. 2. 4. He hath secured ability for, and willingness 
in the study of holiness for his people, Rom. vi. 13, 14. Eph. 
vi. 10, 11. 1 John ii. 13, 14. Phil. ii. 12, 13. iv. 13. 

IV. All our furniture for the study of gospel-holiness must be 
received from the fulness of Christ, by spiritual union to and 



OF SANCTTFICATIOX. 924 

fellowship with him, John xiv. 20. xvii. 22, 23, 26. xv. 4, 5. 1. 

All the fulness of new-covenant grace is lodged in him, Col. i. 
19. ii. 10 — 13, 19. Eph. i. 3. 1 Cor. i. 30. 2 Cor. i. 20. Psalm 
lxxii. 17. Gal. ii. 20. 1 John v. 11. 12. ; and particularly the fore- 
mentioned furniture, Rom. viii. 14, 15. 2 Cor. v. 17 — 21. Rom. 
\. 19, 21. viii. 33 — 39. Col. i. 27. Zech. x. 12. Isa. xlv. 24. 
2. The scripture-emblems of our union with Christ, import 
that we must live by him, as he does by his Father, John vi. 
57. ; receive life from him as we do sin and death from Adam, 
Rom. v. 12 — 21. 1 Cor. xv. 22,45.; receive influences from him, 
as our body derives its sensation from, and receives its nourish- 
ment by, our head, Col. ii. 19. Eph. iv. 16. ; bring forth good 
works by him, as a wife does lawful children by her husband, 
Rom. vii. 4, 6. ; derive life and nourishment from him, as a 
branch does from its root, John xv. 4; — and as our body does 
from its food, John vi. 51 — 56. ; and become a spiritual temple 
in him, as stones are built in connection with their foundation 
and corner-stone, 1 Pet. ii. 4 — 6. Eph. ii. 20 — 22. 3. Christ's 
end in his incarnation, death, and resurrection, was to form in 
himself a treasure of holiness, to be imparted to us through 
union to, and fellowship with him, John i. 14, 16. Phil. iii. 10, 
11.1 Cor. xv. 45 — 49. Rom. vi. 4—6. He partook of our na- 
ture, and became God with us, that we might be made parta- 
kers of a divine nature, and be filled with all the fulness of God, 
Mat. i. 23. Col. ii. 9, 10. 2 Pet, i. 4. Eph. iii. 19. John i. 14, 
16. In his life he purchased life for us, Rom. v. 10, 17—19, 
21. Dan. ix. 24. In his death he freed himself, and us in him, 
from the curse of the broken law, and crucified our old man of 
inward corruption, which derives its strength from it, Rom. vi. 
2, 3,4, 6, 10, 11. Phil. iii. 10, 11. John xii. 24. Isa. liii. 10. In 
his resurrection, he solemnly took possession of legal, spiritual, 
and eternal life in our stead, Rom. iv. 25. vi. 4, 5, 10, 11. vii. 
4, 6. Eph. ii. 6. Psalm xxi. 4. 4. All sanctifying influences 
are from the Holy Ghost working upon and in us, only as first 
resting upon, and abiding in Christ, and taking of the things 
which are his, and shewing them unto us, Rom. xv. 16. Gal. v. 
25, 26. Isa. xi. 2. John i. 32. iii. 34. 1 Cor. xii. 13. Rom. viii. 
2, 9, 10. John xvi. 13, 14. Gal. iv. 5, 6. 

V. As God's justification of our persons and renovation of our 
nature must necessarily precede all our study of holiness, we 
must receive Christ in all his offices, as offered in the gospel, in 
order to our beginning and carrying it on. — In the gospel, 
Christ and his fulness are brought near, presented, and offered 
to us, as sinful, indigent, and miserable, Isa. ix. 6. Acts iii. 26. 
xiii. 26. 34. Rom. xvi. 26, 27. Eph. iii. 8. Hence it is called 
the ministration of the Spirit, am! ot righteousness, 2 Cor. iii. 6, 
8. Rom. x. 6 — 8. Gal. iii. 2 — 5. And, by faith, we do not 



430 OF SANCTlFfCATlON. 

merely assent to the truth of the gospel, but therein receive 
Christ, and God in him, as given to us, Johni. 12. 1 John v. 11 
— 13. 2 Cor. i. 20. 1 Pet. i. 21. John xiv. 1. and hereby become 
one with Christ, Gal. ii. 20. Eph. iii. 17. 1 John v. 11 — 13. 
John vi. 56. Rom. viii. l.j and are rooted in him, eat his flesh 
and drink his blood, Col. ii. 6, 7. Gal. iii. 14, 26, 27. Acts 
xxvi. 18. John vi. 54 — 57. vii. 37 — 39. and receive a full sal. 
vation as God's free gift in him, Eph. ii. 8, 9. Rom. iii. 24,25. 
Acts x. 38, 43. Rom. xi. 6. And faith in this receiving Christ, 
hath a peculiar fitness for improving him as a foundation, foun- 
tain, or root of holy exercises. — It removes the world, as it is an 
occasion of sin,' — a pretended portion for our soul, or as useful 
in any other but the new covenant channel ; — that we may trust 
and cleave to him, who, by his Spirit, hath entered into our 
hearts, 1 John v. 4. Gal. vi. 14. Phil. iii. 7 — 9. Hos. xiv. 3. 
2 Chron. xx. 12. Psalm lxxiii. 25, 26, 28. clxiii. 9. lvii. 1. Isa. 
xxvi. 3, 4. 1. 10. Psalm xxv. 1. xxxvii. 5. lv. 22. ; — and thus de- 
rives from him all the furniture necessary for us, Rom. vi. 2, 
4, 6. Gal. v. 22, 23. Psalm xxxi. 14. lxv. 3, 4. Isa. xiv. 24, 25. 
Phil. iv. 13. ; and prompts our soul to all holy duties, Col. i. 
11, 12. 1 John v. 12. ii. 6. iv. 19. iii. 1, 3. 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. 
Gal. ii. 20. 

But here it must be carefully observed, I. That no true ho- 
liness can be attained by us in our natural state of separation 
from Christ. 1. All the furniture necessary for it is conveyed 
and produced in us by Christ's entrance into our hearts, 1 Cor. 
i. 30. Eph. ii. 10. iii. 17 — 19. 2. In our flesh or natural state, 
we cannot please God, Rom. viii. 8. John iii. 6. Eph. ii. 1 — 3. j 
but are under sin, guilt, and the curse on account of it, Eph. ii. 
3. Rom. viii. 1,7.; and are blinded by, and bond-slaves to Satan, 
2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. 2 Tim. ii. 26. 3. In order to promote the 
study and practice of holiness, our whole state of person and 
nature must be changed. We must be renewed, born again, 
created in Christ, Eph. iv. 21 — 24. ii. 10. Rom. xiii. 14. Col. 
iii. 10, It. ii. 10,11, 12. 2 Cor. v. 17 — 21. Gal. vi. 15. Christ 
did not die for us, to rectify our natural state, but to remove 
it; nor to rectify our old man, but to crucify and destroy it, 
Gal. iii. 13. iv. 4, 5. Rom. vi. 2, 6, 10, 11, 14. vii. 4, 6. GaL 
v. 24. And it is his being in us, that delivers us from our re- 
probate or unregenerate state, 2 Cor. xiii. 5. 4. The gospel is 
preached to unbelievers to awaken and raise them out of their 
natural state, and to make them new men, perfect in Christ, 
Col. i. 28. 2 Cor. iii. 6. x. 4, 5.*John v. 25. 1 Thess. i. 5, 6. ; 
even as Christ's addresses to the dead or diseased, tended to 
bring them out of that condition, Mark v. 41. John xi. 43, 44. 
Mat. ix. 6. Mark iii. 5. II. All attempts of men to perform 
sincere obedience, in qrder to be a foundation of their right to 



OF SANCTIFICATION. 431 

salvation, or of their trust in Christ, are most legal and wicked. 

1. They are plainly condemned by the Spirit of God, Horn. ix. 
31, 32. Gal. v. 2,4. ii. 21. Luke xviii. 11 — 13. 2. Salvation 
bv the grace of God is directly contrary to every form of attain- 
ing it by our own works, Gal. iii. 12. v. 2, 4. ii. 16, 19. Rom. 
iv. 4, 5. x. 3 — 8. xi. 6. 3. God never intended his gospel to 
dishonour his law, by offering to it our works, which are but 
as filthy rags, — but to establish and exalt it by a complete 
and transcendently glorious fulfilment, Gal. iv. 4, 5. iii. 10 — 
14. Mat. iii. 15. v. 17, 18, 19. Rom. iii. 21—27,31. iv. 5. 
viii. 3, 4. x. 4. Isa. xlii. 21. 2 Cor. v. 21. 2 Pet. i. 1. 4. All 
performance of good works, in order to recommend us to 
God's favour, or to give us a right to Christ, is contrary to 
his execution of his saving offices, — as we would be in part 
saved before we were connected with him, Rom. x. 3. Gal. v. 

2, 4. ii. 21. Mat. ix. 13. xviii. 11. III. AM attempts to per- 
form holy duties, in order to recommend our persons to God's 
favour, or to procure a right to salvation, instead of making 
ns more holy before God, render us much worse. 1. The 
law, as a covenant, was never given since the fall, that men 
might obey it, but to convince them of sin, and drive them to 
Christ, Rom. v. 20. Gal. iii. 24. 2. The law, as a broken 
covenant, allows men no life, no strength for obedience, but is 
the ministration of death, irritating and strengthening sin, Ezek. 
xviii. 4. 2 Cor. iii. 6 — 14. Rom. x. 5. vii. 5, 7 — 13. 1 Cor. 
xv. 56. 3. Hence all attempts to obey it in this form, do but 
fasten the curse upon us, which blasts our knowledge, and all 
the means of grace and holiness, which we enjoy, Gal. iii. 10. 
Rom. ix. 31, 32. xi. 8, 10. 4. All such attempts toward holi- 
ness labour to make Christ's atonement contemptible, useless, 
and sinful, Rom. x. 3.; and exclude all his saving influences 
from us, Gal. ii. 21. v. 2, 4. Rom. ix. 30 — 32. Mat. ix. 13. 
Luke xix. 10. ; and render the promises of the new covenant of 
no effect, Rom. iv. 14. ; — and are but the working of our inward 
enmity against God, Rom. viii. 7. 

VI. To promote the study of true holiness, we, — depending on 
no change of our nature or practice, as our warrant and 
ground of right, — as sinful and wretched men must unite with 
Jesus Christ, as made of God to us, in the gospel-offer, wisdom 
and righteousness, and sanctification and redemption. 1. Till 
we be united with him, we are under the law, which is the 
strength of sin, and excludes all the above-mentioned prepara- 
tions for the study of gospel-holiness, Rom. vii. 4. 1 Cor. xv. 56. 
Gal. iii. 10. 2. Christ never requires holiness to warrant our 
receiving him in the gospel, but invites men, the verv worst not 
excepted, but rather particularly called, to come directly to him, 
as they arc, for whatever wisdom, righteousness, sanctificatiou, 



432 OF SANCTIFICAllOj}. 

and redemption they need, Prov. xxiii. 26. i. 20 — 23. viii. 4. 
ix. 4,5, 6. Isa. i. 18. xlvi. 12. lv. 1 — 7. Jer. iii. 1, 4, 13, 14, 
22. Mat. xi. 28. ix. 13. 2 Cor. v. 19, 20. 1 Tim. i. 15. Rev. 
xxii. 17. iii. 17. No true repentance is ever required as our 
qualification warranting us to receive: Christ as our Saviour ; 
for it is a turning to God through him as our way, Hos. xiv. 1. 
Isa. xliv. 22. — Nor willing subjection to God's law ; lor that 
proceeds from our deliverance by Christ, Psalm cxvi. 16. Luke 
i. 74, 75* — Nor humiliation for sin; for that is the fruit of 
God's application of Christ to us, Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 31. Phil. iii. 
7 — 9. — Nor purity of heart; for that is produced by faith 
coming to Christ, Acts xv. 9. — Nor love to God ; for that must 
proceed from his loving us, and washing our consciences in 
Christ's blood, 1 John iv. 19. 1 Tim. i. 5. — Nor filial fear of 
God ; as that must proceed from our having received the king- 
dom, Heb. xii. 28. — Nor prayer, as a good work; as that pro- 
ceeds from believing on Christ, Rom. x. 14. Heb. xiii. 10, 15. 
—Nor forgiving others the injuries which they have done us ; 
as that is a fruit of God's Spirit in us, and of his forgiving 

our sins in Christ, Eph. iv. 30 — 32. All these proceed from 

faith, which is the first habit and work in order of nature, John 
vi. 29. Gal. v. 6. Rom. xiv. 23. — Nor is regeneration our war- 
rant or ground of right to receive Christ, as it is effected in 
him, Eph. ii. 10. 1 Cor. iv. 15. 3. If we could attain any true 
holiness or virtue before our union to Christ, it would infallibly 
exclude us from all warrant and access to believe in him, and 
demonstrate that we were none of those lost sinners whom he 
came to seek and save, or calls to himself, Luke xix. 10. Mat. 
xviii. 11. ix. 12, 13. 1 Tim. i. 15. Isa. Iv. 7. 

VII. Gospel-holiness must he earnestly sought after ly faith, 
as a necessary and principal part of our salvation, — enjoyed 
inconsequence of our union tvith Christ, justification by his 
blood, and reception of his Spirit. It must be earnestly sought 
after, as it is of great importance, as a necessary mark of our 
union with Christ, and pledge of, and preparation for our being 
eternally with him, 1 Cor. i. 30. John xiii. 8. Rom. viii. 1 — 4. 
Heb. xii. 14. 2 Pet. iii. 11, 14, 18. i. 3— 10. Tit. ii. 11 — 14. 
Rev. xxii. 14.; and wherever true faith is, it works by love, and 
pants after progress in holiness, Gal. v. 6. Psal. cxliii. 10. Ii. 10. 
cxix.5, 11. Jer. xxxi. 18. Rom. vii. 14—24. — It must be earnest- 
ly sought after, as a necessain) part of salvation, Matth. i. 21. 
Tit. iii. 5. Eph. ii. 10. Gal. v. 10, 14. Rom. vii. 4, 6. xi. 26. It 
is to be sought after in due order, consequential to our spiritual 
union with Christ, justification by his imputed righteousness, 
and receiving his sanctifying Spirit, John xv. 4,5. Heb. ix. 41. 
Gal. v. 18,25. 



OF SANCTIF1CATION. 433 

VIII. Not only at first, but as long as we lire on earth, we 
must always receive the comforts of the gospel, in order lo qua- 
lify us for obeying Ihe lurv, us a rule of life. 1 . The necessity 
of the fourfold furniture for the practice of holiness requires 
this. 2. Spiritual peace, jov, and hope, are an effectual source 
of good works, and slavish fear and oppressive grief are an hin- 
drance of them, Psalm iv. 7, 8. 1 Thess. v. 23. Neh. viii. 10. 
1 John iii. 3. iv. 18. Psal. cxvi. 16. cxix. 32, 166. Amos iii. 3. 
Luke i. 75. 3. The Holy Ghost establishes men in even good 
word and work, by comforting them, 2 Thess. ii. 16, 17. Horn. 
v. 17—21. vi. 1, 2, 10, 11, 12, 14. vii. 4, 6. vin. .,2,9, 11, 13. 
Eph. iv. 30—32. v. vi. 2 Cor. v. 14 — 21. vi. 1, 18. vii. 1, 11. 
Col. iii. 1 — 4. Heb. xiii. 5. — And they that are under deep 
convictions and tormenting fears, have special need of such 
comfort to strengthen them for holy duties, Luke x. 5. Acts ii. 
37 — 39. iii. 26. v. 31 . xiii. 26, 34, 38, 39. xvi. 30, 31. 4. With- 
out such continued comforts, we cannot delight in God, devote 
ourselves wholly to him, cast all our cares and burdens upon 
him, deny ourselves, or suffer torture or death for his sake, 
Mat. xvi. 24. xix. 29. 5. It is God's ordinary method to pre- 
pare his servants for their work by proper comforts ; as Adam, 
Gen. ii. ; David, Psal. cxvi. 16. cxix. 32 — 166.; the Hebrews, 
Hos. xi. 4. ; the Christians at Antioch, Acts xiii. 47, 48. and 
of Thessalonica, 1 Thess. i. 4 — 6. ; nay, Christ, Psalm xvi. 8, 
9. Isa. xiii. 1—7. xlix. 1,2. Matth. iii. 16, 17. xvii. 1 — 5. 6. 
All attempts to practise holiness in any other form, method, or 
order, are heartless and burdensome, and so not scriptural, Mai. 
i. 13. iii. 14. Isa. lviii- 3. Amos viii. 5. Luke ii. 1©, 11. John 
xiv. 16, 17. xv. 11. Isa. lxiv. 5. Prov. iii. 13 — 18. 

IX. In order to promote our study of true holiness, we must 
receive these comforts of the gospel in Christ, by an assured 
faith in the declarations and promises of it, as offering aiii 
giving him, and all his blessings of salvation in him, to us in 
particular, Rom. ix. 25,26. 1 John v. 11 — 13. 1 Cor. i. 30. 1. 
Though it be not absolutely necessary that we should have a sen- 
sible assurance that we actually possess Christ and his salvation, 
yet, without a real hearty persuasion of the faithfulness of God, 
in his giving the promises of the gospel, there can be no receiv- 
ing or improving Christ, for the purification of our nature and 
life, Gal. ii. 20. v. 6, 24, 25. Nor can any spiritual doubts or 
fears be removed, while endeavours after an assured acting of 
faith on the gospel of God are neglected. 2. Those saints who 
have most firmly believed the declarations, offers, and promises 
of God in the gospel, have been most eminent in holiness : as 
Job, Job xiii. 15. i. 1, 21, 22. ii. 3.; Abraham, Isaac, and Ja- 
cob, Heb. xi. 8 — 21. ; Moses, Heb. iii. 2, 5. xi. 24 — 29. ; David, 
Psalm xviii. 1 — 3, 23. Acts xiii. 22, 36. ; and the apostles and 

3M 



434 OF SANCTIFICATION. 

primitive Christians, Rom. viii. 15,38, 39. Gal. iv. 6. 1 Thess. 
i. 5,6. Heb. x. 32 — 34. 

X. In order that our fellowship with Christ in his comforts 
and grace, and our study of gospel-holiness by means ofil,uiay 
he begun, continued, and more and more increased, we ought, 
with great diligence, to exercise this assured faith in a right 
manner, and to abound in it more and more. I. We must act 
this assured faith with great diligence and earnestness. 1. The 
scope of the gospel is to encourage such diligence, Rom. i. 5. 
2 Tim. iii. 15. Rom. x. 4. xv. 4. John xx. 31. 2. Even the 
slothful exercise or indulgence of unbelief, is most criminal and 
dangerous, Heb. x. 29, 31. John iii. 18, 36. 2 Thess. i. 7 — 9. 
3. All acting of true faith requires almighty power on God's 
side, and diligent labour on ours, Heb. iv. 11. vi. 11, 12. Eph. 
i. 17 — 19. iii. 16 — 19. 4. Though we cannot truly believe of 
ourselves, yet it is our indispensible duty ; and the Holy Ghost 
works faith in us, by stirring us up to essay believing, Phil. ii. 
12, 13. Rom. x. 17. And, as we know not when he may work 
it in us, we ought always to be attempting to believe, as our 
duty, John iii. 8. 1 Chron. xxii. 16. Psalm ex. 3. 5. Though 
none but elect men truly believe the gospel, — every hearer of 
it ought to believe it, with application to himself. Nor can 
any know their election, but by their receiving Jesus Christ 
for the sanctification of their nature and lives, John iii. 6. vi. 
37, 40. Psalm cvi. 4, 5. ex. 3. II. We must thus diligently 
believe the declarations and promises of the gospel without 
delay, as it is infinitely wicked and dangerous to continue in 
unbelief and unholiness, so much as a moment, Prov. xxvii. 1. 
Heb. iii. 7, 8, 12, 15. vi. 18. 2 Cor. vi. 2. Psalm cxix. 59, 60. 
xviii. 44. III. We must act this assured faith in a right man- 
ner. It must be faith unfeigned and lively, 1 Tim. i. 5. James 
ii. 14, 19, 26. It must be complete, including a persuasion 
founded upon God's infallible testimony, that we are altogether 
guilty, polluted, miserable, and self-irrecoverable, Rom. iii. 19, 
20. Gal.- ii. 16. John xvi. 9 — 11. ; that Christ and his salvation 
are infinitely excellent, sufficient, and suitable for us, John i. 
14. iii. 16. vi. 33, 34, 68, 69. Phil. iii. 8, 9. 1 John i. 7, 9. 
Heb. vii. 25. Psalm lxxxix. 19, 20. 1 Tim. i. 15. 1 Cor. vi. 9 
— 11. Isa- xxviii. 16. Matth. ix. 13. xii. 31. 1 Pet. ii. 4, 7. ; 
that God's free and full promises and offers of him and it, are 
only and infinitely suited to our case, Acts iv. 12. John xiv. 6. 

x. 7, 9. Jer. ii. 13, 22, 23. iii. 23. xvi. 19. Rom. ix. 30— 

32. Luke xix. 10. 1 Tim. i. 15. 2 Cor. vi. 2. Rom. iv. 5, 25. : 
— and that he requires us to believe them with particular appli- 
cation to ourselves, 1 John iii. 23. Mark x. 49. Matth. xxiii. 
37 Rev. xxii. 17. Isa. Iv. 1 — 7. Ezek. xxxiii. 11.; — and our 
cordial reception of Christ and all his salvation in them, as 



OF SANCTIFICATION. 455 

God's free gifts to us sinful men, Isa. lv. 1, 2, 3, 7.; and trust- 
ing that he, and his Father, and Spirit, will act towards us ac- 
cording to their new-covenant characters and promises, 2 Tim. 
i. 12. Hcb. x. 22. vi. 18, IB. x. 35. Rom. ix. 33. Isa. xxviii. 

16. IV. We must not only continue, but more and more abound 
in the diligent exercise of this assured faith, Col. i. 23. ii. 6, 7. 
Heb. iii. 6, 14. x. 35. Phil. iii. 13 — 14. — as the mean of further 
victory over our spiritual enemies, and growth in holiness by 
received influences from Christ, Exod. xvii. 11. 1 Pet. i. 5. Eph. 
vi. 10 — 20. Zech. x. 12. xii. 10. 1 John ii. 1, 2. Luke xxii. 32. 
Col. ii. 6, 7, 19. Eph. iii. 16. John i. 16. 

XI. We must act this assured faith only in a manner suited 
to our state of union with Christ, in order to promote holimss 
according to it, and not at all according to our legal or natu- 
ral state. For true holiness is a walking, a warring, a living 
by faith, 2 Cor. v. 7. Gal. v. 6. 1 John v. 4. Eph. vi. 16. 2 Cor. 
x. 3. Hab. ii. 4. Gal. ii. 20.; a walking in Christ, Col. ii. 6, 7. 1 
Pet. iii. 16 .Phil. iii. 10 — 14. ; a walking by grace, 2 Tim. ii. 1. 
2 Cor. i. 12. 1 Cor. xv. 10. Heb. xii. 28. ; a walking in, or af- 
ter the Spirit, Rom. viii. 1, 4. Gal. v. 18, 24, 25.; and a putting 
off the old man, and putting on the new, Eph. iv. 21—24. Col. 
iii. 9, 10. — We must therefore, 1. Live always under a deep 
sense of the remaining corruption of our nature and practice, 
Mark ix. 24. Eph. iv. 13. 1 Cor. iii. 1. Phil. iii. 8—14. Gal. 
v. 5. Rom. viii. 9, 13. vii. 14 — 25. 2. Never satisfy our- 
selves with a trusting in Christ's grace to assist our endea- 
vours ; but, wholly distrusting our own strength and best 
meant endeavours, we must trust in him alone to perform in and 
for us every thing necessary for his honour and happiness, Isa. 
xxvi. 12. xl. 11. xlvi. 3, 4. lxiii. 9. Psalm lvii. 2. Rom. viii. 
26, 37. Gal. ii. 20. v. 24, 25. 1 Thess. v. 23, 24. 2 Thess. ii. 16, 

17. 3. Never perform any duty, — in order to obtain God's ju- 
dicial pardon of our sin, favour, or title to eternal life ; but as 
persons already pardoned, accepted, and entitled to eternal 
life, and possessed of his Spirit and gospel-comforts, Rom. 
vii. 4. vi. 14. Gal. v. 18. iii. 2, 3. iv. 6. Col. ii. 10, 19. Eph. 
iv. 16. 4. No consideration of God's perfections, or authority 
over us, or of the happiness of heaven, or torments of hell, 
must make us immediately apply to any particular duty, with- 
out, first in order, applying Christ and his grace to our soul, 
Zech. x. 12. 2 Tim. ii. 1. Eph. vi. 10. Psalm lvii. 2. Tit. 
ii. 14. iii. 8, 14. Heb. xii. 28. Ezek. xxvi. 27. 5. The 
solid hopes of an everlasting enjoyment of Christ, and of 
God in him, must excite and strengthen us for every holy 
exercise, Psalm xvi. 8 — 11. xvii. 15. lxxiii. 24 — 28. Horn. vi. 
4, 6, 11, 12. viii. 17, 18. 2 Cor. iv. 16— 18. 1 John iii. 1—3. 
6. Such benefits of the new covenant as most excite love to 



436 OF SANCTIFICAT30N. 

God or men, — striving against sin, — diligence in holy duties,— 
familiarity with and trust in God, — patience under afflictions, 
— cordial repentance of sin, — or the like, must be peculiarly 
improved for that purpose, 1 John iv. 18, 19. i. 3. 1 Cor. vi. 
11, 15, 19. Gal. v. 25. Eph.ii. 10. 1 Thess. v. 14—24. Rom. v. 
vi. Col. iii. 1 — 5. Phil. iii. 12—1,4. i. 23, 24. Heb. x. 19—25. 
1 Pet. v. 7. Psal. Iv. 22. lxxxiv. 1 1, 12. 2 Cor. iv. 16 — 18. xii. 
8, 9, 10. 1 Cor. x. 13. vi. 19, 20. 1 John i. 7, 9. Tit. ii. 11— 
14. Heb. xii. 28. 

XII. We must diligently attend upon, and improve every gos- 
pel ordinance ansiverable to our condition, — agreeably to our 
nexv-covenant state, that we may therein have fellowship with 
Christ in his blood and Spirit for the sanctification of our na- 
ture and lives* — particularly reading and hearing God's word, 
self-examination, meditation, prayer, singing of psalms, receiv- 
ing the sacraments, fasting, vows, church-fellowship, and Chris- 
tian conference, John v. 39. Acts xvii. 11. Isa. Iv. 3. 2 Cor. 
xiii. 5. Zeph. ii. 1. Psalm i. 2. cv. 5. cxix. 11. 97. John xvi. 
23, 24. Matth. vi. 1—13. Col. 'iii. 16. Eph. v. 19. Matth. 
xxviii. 19. 1 Cor. x. 16, 17. xi. 23—29. Mat. ix. 15. vi. 14— 
17. Psalm lxxvi. 11. cxix. 106. Heb. x. 25. Psalm lxxxvii. 1, 
2. Mai. iii. 16. Luke xxiv. 23. Song v. vi. 

XIII. For our excitement to such earnest and evangelical 
study of holiness, we ought carefully to consider and thorough- 
ly to understand the peculiar excellency and advantage of 
this method. 1. It exalts all the perfections of God, and all the 
offices and relations of Christ, 1 Pet. iv. 11. Col. iii. 3, 4, 11. 
ii. 10, 19. Heb. xiii. 7, 8. 2. It perfectly corresponds with all 
the scriptural doctrines of original sin, particular election and 
redemption, union with Christ, justification by his blood, adop- 
tion into his family, and the infallible perseverance of his saints, 
&c. 3. While it alone produces real holiness of heart and 
life, Isa. 1. 10, 11. — it is most delightful and honourable, the 
easy, plain, peaceful, love-paved, pleasant, costly, but free and 
highly exalted path, in which, in an high state of union with 
Christ and favour with God, we walk familiarly with him, as 
his friends, children, and spouse, to everlasting perfection and 
glory, Jer. vi. 16. Prov. iii. 17. Isa. xxxv. 8 — 11. 

Reflect. But am I thus renewed in the spirit of my 
mind ? — thus sanctified wholly in soul, body, and spirit, by 
the faithful God of peace ? Are those promised graces. Chris- 
tian tempers, spiritual lustings against the flesh, those holy and 
virtuous exercises, produced by the influence of his Spirit, to 
be found in me? — Are those evangelical rules hid in vay heart 
and practised in my life, that I may not sin against him ? No 
where are divine direction and influence, and distinct expe- 



OF SPIRITUAL CONSOLATION, &c. 437 

rience, more necessary than in stuck ing and preaching the doc- 
trine and duty of sanctification, and no where do multitudes of 
preachers more miserably err and mislead than hen-. 



CHAP. V. 



Of Spiritual Consolation, including the infallible Conserva- 
tion and Perseverance of Saints ; — Indwelling of the Holy 
Ghost as an Almighty Comforter ; — Assurance of God's 
love and friendship; — Peace of Conscience; — and Joy in 
the Holy' Ghost. 

I. GOD's infallible conservation of his saints in their gra- 
cious state and course, and their perseverance which pro- 
ceeds from it, are not formally included in their spiritual con- 
solation, but are an immediate principal ground of it. — 
Through the power and subtlety of their indwelling corrup- 
tion and its assistants, believers, if left by God to themselves, 
would soon fall from all their possession and exercise of grace, 
and they often do fall into fearful degrees and acts of sin. But 
being kept by God in Christ, they can never in the least 
fall Irom their happy state of union with Christ, or of justifi- 
cation and adoptioa through him ; nor can they fall totally or 
finally from the possession and exercise of spiritual life or sa- 
ving grace. 1. Scripture represents them as firmly establish- 
ed; as an everlasting foundation ; as unmoveable like mount 
Zion ; as a rock or house built on a rock; as God's jewels, which 
shall not be lost ; as a spring whose waters fail not ; as trees 
which shall never wither, &c. Prov. x. 25. Psalm exxv. 1, 2. 
Matth. vii. 24, 25. xvi. 18. Mai. iii. 17. Isa. lviii. 11. Ixi. 3. 
Jer. xvii. 8. Psalm xxxvii. 24. 1 John ii. 17, 19. iii. 9. 2. 
Many infallible promises of God secure their conservation and 
perseverance in their gracious state and exercise, Deut. xxxi. 
8. Heb. xiii. 5. Isa. xlv. 17. xlvi. 4. liv. 8 — 10. lix. 21. Jer. 
xxxii. 39, 40. Hos. ii. 19, 20. John x. 27 — 29. Psalm xxxvii. 
24, 28, 33, 37. xcii. 13, 14. xciv. 14. 3. Many scriptures ex- 
pressly affirm that they are all infallibly preserved and perse- 
vere in their state and exercise of grace, job xvii. 9. Prov. iv. 
18. Psalm lxxxiv. 7. Phil. i. 6. 1 Thess. v. 23, 24. 2 Thess. 
iii. 3. ii. 16, 17. Col. iii. 3, 4. John vi. 35, 39, 40. xvii. 9, 12, 
24. Rom. viii. 28 — 39. xi. 2, 29. 1 Cor. i. 8, 9. x. 13. 1 John 
iu 19. Heb. x. 38, 39. 4. Their total or final fall from their 
state and exercise of grace, is altogether inconsistent with the 
perfections of God. For, how can he, who is unchangeable, 
hate those whom he once loved with an everlasting loye ? Jer. 



458 OF SPIRITUAL CONSOLATION, &c. 

■xxi. 3. John xiii. 1. How can he, who is infinitely just, de- 
mand full satisfaction for their sins from Christ, and yet pu- 
nish them for ever in hell, Job. xxxiii. 24. Tit. ii. 14. Rom. 
iii. 24—26. Gal. iii. 13, 14. 1 Pet. 1. 18, 19. ii. 24. iii. 

18. ? How can he, who is infinitely wise and powerful, begin 
an important work without being able and willing to finish it, 
Luke xiv. 28—30. "Ml. i. 6. 2 Thess. i. 11, 12. 1 Pet. i. 5. i 
How can he, who L infinitely faithful, engage himself by pro- 
mise and oath to do that which he is either unable or unwil- 
ling to perform, Num. xxiii. 19. Tit. i. 2. 1 Sam. xv. 29. 
1 Thess. v. 24. 1 Cor. i. 9. Heb. x. 23. vi. 14 — 18. Deut. 
xxxiii. 27 — 29. ? 5. Believers' total or final fall from the state 
or exercise of grace is perfectly inconsistent with God's un- 
changeable purpose and new-covenant love to Christ as Me- 
diator, and to them in him, Isa. xlvi. 10. xiv. 24, 27. Psalm 
xxxiii. 11. Prov. xix. 21. 2 Tim. i. 10. 1 Thess. v. 8, 9. Heb. 
vi. 17, 18. Rom. viii. 28 — 30. ix. 11. xi. 29. Isa. liii. 10—12. 
Psalm xxii. 27 — 31. lxxxix. 4, 28 — 35. 6. Believers' total 
or final fall from their state or exercise of grace is absolutely 
inconsistent with all the honour and new-covenant characters 
of all the persons in the Godhead. It is inconsistent with the 
honour of the Father, as the chooser of them, — and giver of 
them to Christ for a reward of his mediatorial obedience unto 
death, Rom. viii. 29. John xvii. 6. Psalm ii. 8. Isa. liii. 10 — 
12. 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. Rom. v. 9, 10. viii. 32. 
Rev. v. 9. ; — or, as their steady friend, Isa. liv. 8 — 10. Jer. 
xxxii. 40. Zeph. iii. 17.; — and their almighty preserver and 
safe-guard, John x. 29. 1 Pet. i. 5. Col. iii. 3. Psalm xci. 

Deut. xxxiii. 26 — 29. It is inconsistent with the honour 

of the Son, who with his blood redeemed and purchased them, 
Tit. ii. 14. 1 Pet. i. 19. Rom. v. 9, 10. Rev. v. 9. Matth. xx. 
28. 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. 1 Tim. ii. 6. 1 Thess. v. 9, 10. ; — who, 
as their advocate, continually intercedes for them, 1 John ii. 
1,2. John xvii. 11, 15, 20, 24. Psalm ii. 8. xxi. 4. John xi. 
42. Heb. vii. 25. ; — who builds them up together, as a church 
or temple for himself, Heb. iii. 3, 6. Matth: xvi. 18. ; and is 
in them as their life and hope of glory, Gal. ii. 20. John xiv. 

19. Rev. i. 18. Col. iii. 3, 4. i. 27. ; — and who is their Head, 
Husband, King, Shepherd, &c. Col. i. 18. ii. 19. Eph. iv. 16. 
Isa. liv. 5. lxii. 4, 5. Hos. ii. 19, 20. 2 Cor. xi. 2. Isa. xxxiii. 
22. Psalm ii. 6. xxiii. 1. John x. 1 Pet. ii. 25. v. 4. Heb. xiii. 

20. Isa. xl. 11. Ezek. xxxvii. 24 — 28. — to suffer them to be 

ruined and damned. It is inconsistent with the honour of 

the Holy Ghost, who dwells in them as a comforter, John 
xiv. 16, 17. Rom. xi. 29. 1 John ii. 27. ; — as a perpetual foun- 
tain of quickening influence, John iv. 14. Rom. viii. 2, 10. 
John xiv. 19. ; — as an almighty worker of goodness, Eph. v. 9. 



OF SPIRITUAL CONSOLATIOX, &c. 4S» 

i. 17 — 19. ii. 21, 22.; — as an anointing and earnest, 1 John 
ii. 20, 27. 2 Cor. i. 21, 22. ; and as a seal, confirming them to 
eternal happiness, Eph. i. 13. iv- 30. 2 Cor. i. 22. v. 5. 7. 
Believers' total or final fall from their state or exercise of 
grace, is inconsistent with the nature of their implanted graces, 
which are incorruptible seed, 1 Pet. i. 23. ; the Seed of God, 
which abideth in them, 1 John iii. 9. ; their faith crucifies the 
flesh, Gal. v. 24. and overcomes the world, 1 John v. 54. ; 
and fails not, Luke xxii. 32. 1 Cor. xiii. 13.; their hope makes 
not ashamed, Rom. v. 5. viii. 24. Heh. vi. 18, 19. and their love 
never fails, 1 Cor. xiii. 8, J 3. But this infallibility of their 
graces arises wholly from their connection with Christ and his 
Spirit. 

Objec. I. " Many Scripture texts plainly suppose that be- 
" lievers may fall totally and finally from their state and exer- 
" cise of grace ; and therefore warn them to watch against it, or 
" promise great rewards to their perseverance, Psalm exxv. 3. 
" Ezek. xviii. 24, 2G. xxxiii. 12 — 19. Mat. v. 13. xxiv. 13. 
" Rom. xiv. 15. 1 Cor. viii. 11. ix. 27. x. 12. 2 Cor. vi. 1. xi. 
"3. Heb. xii. 12, 13, 16. x. 38. Jude 12, 21. Rev. ii. 7, 11,17, 
"26. iii. 5, 12, 21. Gal. vi. 9. 2 Pet. i. 4—11." Axsw. 1. 
Mere supposition of righteous men's falling from their right- 
eousness does not prove that they can do so, as is most evident 
from the Hebrew form of the oaths of God mentioned in Scrip- 
ture, Psal. lxxxix. 35. Amos viii. 7. 2. Such as are but appa- 
rently holy, may, and uften do lose all their appearances of it, and 
become profane, Mat. xiii. 21, 22. 2 Kings xii. 3. Believers 
may lose much of their gracious dispositions and practices, and 
fall into fearful sins and chastisements; and might wholly fall 
from their grace, if God did not keep them. 4. Our watching 
over ourselves, and against temptations, is one blessed mean, by 
which Christ and his Spirit preserve us in our gracious disposi- 
tions and exercises, Eph. vi. 10 — 19. 1 Pet. v. 8. Mark xiv. 3S- 
1 Cor. xvi. 13. 

Objec II. " Some very eminent saints, as David, Solomon, 
*' Peter, Alexander, Hymeneus, Demas, Sec. actuallv fell from 
** their state and exercise of grace, 3 Sam. xi. 1 Kings xi. Mat. 
" xxvi. 69 — 74. 1 Tim. i. 19, 20. 2 Tim. ii. 17, 18. iv. 10. 
" Heb. vi. 4,5. x. 26—30, 38. 2 Pet. ii. 20—22." Answ. 1. 
David's fall was not total; for God's Spirit remained with him. 
Psalm li. 11. : nor Solomon's; for God's mercy departed Dot 
from him, 2 Sam. xii. 24. ; and his Ecclesiastes manifests his 
repentance, chap. ii. 10, 11, 17. v. 10, 12. vii. 2, 3, 26, 27 : nor 
Peter's; for his faith failed not, Luke xxii. 32. 2. There is no 
proof that Alexander, Hymeneus, Demas, &c. ever had anv real 
grace more than Judas, John vi. 70. Mat. vii. 22, 23. 



440 OF SPIRITUAL CONSOLATION, &c. 

Objec. III. " The pretence of believers' unfailing perseve- 
" ranee in grace encourages them to sin, particularly in the 
" manner of Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Aaron, David, Solomon, 
" Samson, Peter, and other saints." Answ. 1. The sinful falls 
of saints are not recorded in Scripture for our imitation, but for 
our warning to take heed to ourselves, to watch against, and 
resist temptations. 2. Such as merely imagine themselves saints, 
often improve the grace of God into licentiousness ; but a truly 
regenerated heart cannot but improve grace received and secu- 
red, as a powerful excitement to holiness, Phil. ii. 13. Rom. 
vi. 1, 2, 12. 2 Cor. vi. 16, 18. vii. 1. 1 Pet. i. 3, 5, 13, 15. 

1 John iii. 2, 3. Psalm cxix. 32, 166. cxvi. 16. Luke i. 74, 75. 
Heb. xii. 28. Astonishing ! Because the love of Christ firmly 
believed constrains men to holiness, must their belief of its un- 
changeable, and eternal duration induce them to wickedness ? 

2 Cor. v. 14, 15. — Because true faith purifies the heart, Acts 
xv. 9. must the infallible continuance of it pollute the heart ? — 
Because evangelical hope of everlasting happiness makes men to 
purify themselves as God is pure, 1 John iii. 3. must the firm 
continuance of it prompt them to render themselves worse than 

devils ? Can a man who has any real experience of God's 

grace in his soul, believe that the new nature formed by and 
like to the Spirit of Christ, John iii. 5, 6. is so very superdevilish, 
that God's powerful discoveries and applications of the exceed- 
ing riches of his redeeming grace will encourage it to outrage- 
ous rebellion against him ? — Even in natural things, do mothers' 
holding, assisting, and teaching their children to walk, encou- 
rage them to stumble and break their necks ? Or, do the ledges 
of bridges, or battlements of houses, encourage them that walk 
along to leap over and drown themselves, or dash themselves to 
pieces ? 

Objec. IV. " God's infinite holiness cannot permit him to 
" assure men of everlasting favour and happiness, notwithstand- 
" ing their falls into sin, as that would weaken and invalidate 
<( all his calls to the study of holiness." Answ. 1. God himself 
hath repeatedly declared the contrary, Psalm lxxxix. 28 — S5. 
Isa. liv. 8—10. lvii. 17, 18. Heb. xii. 5—11, 28. Rom. viii. 28 
— 39. v. 21. vi. 1.2 Cor. vi. 18. vii. 1. 2. Not our good beha- 
viour, but the surety righteousness of Christ, is the new cove- 
nant foundation of our everlasting friendship with God, and 
happiness in the full enjoyment of him, 1 John i. 7, 9, ii. 1,2. 
Rev. v. 9, 10. Rom. v. 10, 16—21. Heb. ix. 14. x. 14. 

II. The indwelling of the Holy Ghost as an almighty Com- 
forter. He dwells in the heart of believers, not only in his in- 
fluences, but primarily in his person, Ezek. xxxvi. 27. Gal.iv. 
6. Rom. viii. 9. John xiv. 17. 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. vi. 19. 2 Tim. 



OF SPIRITUAL CONSOLATION, gtc. 441 

*. 14. Being infinite, and every where present, he can, at once, 
personally dwell in all the saints in heaven and on earth, all of 
whom are united to Christ, in whom he primarily dwells, asmem- 
bers of his one mystical body. — In the character of a Comforter, 
1. He kindly explains, and by his word manifests to believers 
the things freely given them of God,— -the excellency, fitness, 
and encouraging characters and blessings of Christ, that with 
delight they may discern and contemplate the mysteries of the 
gospel, John xiv. 26. xv. 26. xvi. 13, 14. Mat. xiii. 11. 1 Cor. 
ii. 10,12, 15. Psalm xix. 7 — 10. cxix. 72, 103, 126, 162. Jer. 
xv. 16. Song v. 10 — 16. 2. He seals them up to the day of re- 
demption, bestowing upon them such communications of divine 
light, purity, life, righteousness, peace, and joy\ as mark them 
his peculiar people, whom he will preserve inviolable for him- 
self, — and certify them of their saving interest in the promises 
of eternal life, Eph. i. 13, 14. iv. 30. 2 Cor. i. 21, 22. 3. He is 
the earnest of their eternal inheritance, which renders them cer- 
tain of obtaining it in due time, and gives them pleasant fore- 
tastes of it, Eph. i. 14. 2 Cor. i. 22. v. 5. Rom. viii. 23. This 
includes his shedding abroad the love of God in their hearts,— 
his attesting the pardon of their sin, and what God is to them, 
has done, and will do for and in them, Rom. v. 5. ; and his giv- 
ing them delightful fellowship with Christ as their bridegroom 
and hidden manna, Song ii. 3 — 5. Rev. ii. 17. 4. To their great 
comfort, and through their exercise of faith and repentance, he 
treads Satan and their indwelling corruptions under their feet, 
Rom. xvi. 20. vii. 25. viii. 2, 13. Mic vii. 19. 5. As an In- 
tercessor within them, he encourages, directs, and enables them 
to proper familiarity, distinctness, and earnestness in their 
prayers to God, Rom. viii. 15, 26, 27. Isa. lxiii. 16. lxiv. 8. 
Jobxxxiv. 36. Jer. iii. 4, 19, 22. Gal. iv. 6. 6. He bears wit- 
ness with their spirits, that they are the children of God : And 
herein, 1. He enables them to render their being such more evi- 
dent, by their renewed, lively, and vigorous application of the 
promises of the gospel to their own souls, 1 Tim. i. 15. Jer. iii. 
22. Psalm xxxi. 14. cxlii. 4, 5. Lam. iii. 24. Zech. xiii. 9. 
2. He sometimes elucidates some former manifestation of Christ, 
and shews it to have been true and saving, John xv. 26. xiv. 26* 
Ezek. xliii. 1 — 3. 3. He assists them in their examination of 
their state and experience,. — directs them to proper marks of 
grace, such as likeness to God, purity of heart, poverty of spi- 
rit, love to Christ, and to every person and thing bearing his 
image, Eph. iv. 24. v. 1,2. Mat. v. 3, 8, 44 — 48. Isa. lxiv. 6. 
1 Kings viii. 38. 1 John iv. 19, 20. iii. 14. Psalm Ixxxiv. 1,2, 
10. xxvi. 8.; — shines on these marks of grace, that they may 
truly understand them, l Cor. ii. 12. ;---invigorates their inward 
graces, and renders them discernible amidst all the remains of 

3 N 



442 OF SPIRITUAL CONSOLATION, &c. 

corruption, 1 John iii. 14, 22,24. 2 Cor. i. 12. Phil. Hi. 3.;— and 
enables their consciences to compare their qualities and exercises 
with the marks of grace established in Scripture, Rom. viii. 16. 
1 John iii. 20, 21. 4. He confirms their persuasion of the reality 
of their grace, by a new application of some gospel promise to 
their heart, Exod. xx. 2. Psalm 1. 7. lxxxi. 10. Isa. liv. 5, 6. 
Jer. iii. 14, 19, 22. xxxi. 3. Hos. xiv. 1. Zech. xiii. 9. Mai. iii. 
17. 2 Cor. vL 18. And the majestick, powerful, self-debasing, 
sanctifying, and love-kindling influences which attend his de- 
clarations, mark them truly divine, John xiv. 17. x. 4. Job. xlii. 
5, 6. Song ii. 8—15. viii. 6, 7. 

III. Sensible assurance of God's love is a well-grounded 
persuasion that we are in a state of favour with him, and that 
therefore he, according to his promises and new-covenant cha- 
racters, has, and certainly will exert all his perfections for ad- 
vancing our real and everlasting felicity in Christ. This assur- 
ance of sense greatly differs from that which is included in the 
very nature of faith. The foundation of that assurance of faith 
is wholly without us in the faithfulness of God pledged in his 
word- The foundation oithis assurance of sense is partly within 
us, in the gracious effects of God's word and Spirit upon our 
heart. By that we are persuaded of the truth of God's revealed 
declarations, particularly in his offering Christ to us in the gos- 
pel. By this xv e are certified that the work of God bepun upon 
our soul is truly gracious and saving. By that we believe, upon 
God's own testimony, his candour in giving Christ and his sal- 
vation to us. By this we certainly know that God hath formed 
in us the begun possession of salvation. — This assurance of sense 
indeed implies a belief of the justness and certainty of the marks 
of grace exhibited in Scripture ; but it also depends on our sen- 
sible perception of the almighty influences of God's Spirit in 
changing and actuating our heart, Song ii. 3 — 5, 8 — 15.; and 
on the manifested effects of his influence in our gracious qua- 
lities and works, 1 John iii. 14, 22,.24. Mat. v. 3 — 10. Gal. 
v. 22, 23. 

Such assurance of sense is attainable by believers in this life. 

1. The work of God's Spirit on their soul manifests this. He 
testifies to their conscience, John xv. 26. xvi. 14. Rom. viii. 16. 
He writes his law in their heart to make them his people, Jer. 
xxxi. 33. Heb. viii- 10. 2 Cor. iii. 3. He seals them up to the 
day of redemption, Eph. i. 13. iv. 30. As an earnest of it, he 
secures eternal life to them, 2 Cor. i. 22. v. 5. Eph. i. 14. Rom. 
viii. 23. John iv. 14. ; and as an miction, he prepares them for it, 
1 John ii. 20, 27. 2 Cor. v. 5. Col. i. 12. 2 Thess. i. 11. 

2. The diligent study of holiness and much self-examination 
are, by God, inculcated upon us, that we may obtain this sea- 



OF SPIRITUAL CONSOLATION, Sic. 443 

■ assurance, 2 Pet. ii. 5 — 8, 10. 2 Cor. xiii. 5. 1 Cor. xi. 
28. Zech. ii. 1. 3. Many marks of grace are exhibited to us 
in Scripture, that by them we may try and know our gracious 
state, Mat. v. 3—10. 1 John i. — v. i. 4 v. 13. 4. Many saints 
have actuallv obtained this assurance, as Job, Jobxix. 25 — 27.; 
Jacob, Gen. xlviii. 3. xlix. 18. ; Moses, Exod.xv. 1'.; David, 
Psalm xviii. 1—3. xxxi. 14* xci. 2.; Asaph, Psalm Ixxiii. 
23 — 26.; Heman, Psalm Ixxxviii. 1. ; Isaiah, Isa. lxiii, 16. ; Je- 
remiah, Jer. xxxi. 3. ; Daniel, Dan. ix. 4, 18, 19. x. 11. ; Ha- 
bakkuk, Hab. iii. 17, 18. i. 12.; Simeon, Luke ii. 25 — 28.; 
Marv, Luke i.47. ; Thomas, John xx. 28. ; Paul, Gal. i. 16. ii. 
19, 20. 2 Cor. v. 1. Phil. iii. 8, 9. Acts xxvii. 23. 2 Tim. i. 12. 
iv. 7, 8.; and others, John i. 14. 1 John iii. 14. Isa. lxi. 10. 
1 Thess. i. 4 — 6. 5. Believers' inward peace, confidence, and 
holy gloriation, manifest their having this assurance, John xvi 
22,33. Rom. v. 1,2, 11. Heb. vi. 11. Eph. iii. 12. 1 Pet. i. 8. 
To attain this sensible assurance of the happiness of our state 
and the truth of our grace, are necessary, 1. Vigorous and of- 
ten repeated acts of faith upon the declarations of the gospel, 
which are directed to us as sinful men, 1 Tim. i. 15. Isa. vii. 9. 
James i. 6, 7- 2. Earnest study of much familiar fellowship 
with God in Christ, 1 John i. 37- Song i. 4. 3. Diligent 
study of universal gospel holiness in heart and life, Luke i. 6» 
vi. 27 — 36. Mat. v. 44 — 48. John xv. 14. 4. Careful cherish- 
ing of the motions of the Spirit of God, who witnesses with our 
spirits, that we are the children of God, Eph. iv. 30. 1 Thess- 
v. 19. 5. Frequent, deliberate, judicious, impartial, earnest, 
and thorough examination of ourselves, 1 Cor. xi. 28. 2 Cor* 
xiii. 5. Zeph. ii. 1. — In which we must never admit an outward 
profession of religion, blamelessness of behaviour, experience of 
the common influences of the Holy Ghost, or any other thing 
which may exist without saving grace, as a mark, Mat. vii. 
21 — 23. Phil. iii. 6. Heb. vi. 4, 5. Isa. lviii. 2.; — nor admit the 
tokens of strong- grace as distinguishing marks of the truth of 
grace, Rom. iv. 19, 20. Hab. iii. 17, 18. Job xiii. 15. Mat. 
xiv. 31. And, conscious of the deceitfulness of our own heart, 
we must earnestly plead for the powerful attestation of the 

Holy Ghost, Psalm cxxxix. 23. xxvi 1, 2. xvii. 3. -Neglect 

of these things, attended with God's sovereign and severe chas- 
tisements thereof, make many real believers wait long before 
they attain this assurance, or even lose it for a time, Heb. ii. 
15. Psalm Ixxiii. 2 — 15. lxxvii. 1 — 10. Ixxxviii. 

IV. Peace of conscience is that inward and delightful calm 
of spirit, which proceeds from our sensible or believing views of 
our being in a state of favour, fellowship, and conformity to 
God, Rom. v. 9, 10. xiv. 17. 2 Cor- v. 19. Isa. liv. 5, 8—10 



444 OF SPIRITUAL CONSOLATION, &c. 

lvii. 18, 19. John xv. 14, 15. xiv. 27. Prov. iii. 17. Psalm 
cxix. 165. 2 Cor. i. 12. Heb. xii. 28. It is attended with de- 
lightful contemplation of God as our God, Psalm cxxxix. 17, 
18. lxiii. 1 — 8. xvi. 5 — 8. ciii.cxlv. cxlvi.; and leads to a bold 
and familiar, but humble dealing with him, Song ii. 14. viii. 
13. Heb. iv. 16. x. 19 — 22.; and an affectionate and peaceful 
disposition towards all his children, Psalm xvi. 3. cxix. 63. 
Being obtained by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, and the 
sanctification of our whole man, this peace is alwavs the same 
in its root or state, Isa. liv. 8 — 10. Ezek. xxxvii. 26. Hos. ii. 
18 — 20. ; but the sense of it is often, in a great measure, lost or 
interrupted. 

In the interruptions of this peace of conscience, Satan and his 
instruments have a wicked hand, seducing and vexing our souls, 
Mat. xxtv. 24. 1 Pet. v. 8. We have a sinful hand, in abusing 
God's kind favours to us, committing conscience-wasting sins, 
or indulging formality, sloth, and self-confidence in religious 
duties, Psalm li. 1—14. Jer. ii. 17, 19. Isa. lxiii. 10. Deut. 
xxxii. 15 — 27. Song v. 3 — 5. Psalm xxx. 6, 7- And God, — 
to manifest his sovereignty, Dan. iv. 34, 35. ; correct our sin- 
fulness, Jer. ii. 17, 19. vi. 19.; try and exercise our graces, 
1 Pet. i. 6, 7.; instigate our earnest prayers, Psalm xxii. 1, 2. 
lxxxiv. 2. cxxx. 1.; manifest his love under, or after, such af- 
fliction, Isa. lvii. 16 — 19. ; and teach us to improve the sense of 
his favour, Rom. v. 3. — righteously hides his countenance, and 
either mediately or immediately distresses our soul, Isa. viii. 
17. xlv. 15. Psalm x. 1. xiii. 1 — 4. lxxvii. 1 — 10. lxxx. 4, 5. 
lxxxviii. Job xiii. 24. 2 Cor, xii. 7. It is regained by re- 
peated applications of Jesus' blood, 1 John i. 7. ; by serious re- 
newals of our repentance for sin, Lam. iii. 40. Jer. xxxi. 
18 — 20.; and by God's repeating his manifestations of love to 

our soul, Isa. lvii- 16 — 19. John xvi. 22. It is maintained by 

an habitual application of Christ's blood to our conscience, 
1 John i. 7. Heb. x. 22. ; by daily devout meditation or the en- 
dearing excellencies and relations of Christ, and of God in him, 
as our God, and on the origin, tenour, and administration of the 
covenant of grace, Psalm civ. 34. 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. John xiv. 
21.; by much familiar fellowship with God, Isa, lxiv. 4, 5. 
Psalm lxiii. 1---8. lxv. 4. Song i. 4. ii. 3. ; by much canuid and 
earnest study of universal holiness, and watchfulness against be- 
loved lusts, Isa. xxxii. 15, 17. lxvi. 5. Acts xxiv. 16. Heb. xii. 
1. Psalm cxix. 165. xviii. 23. ; by speedily washing off the filial 
guilt of sin, and repenting of those offences which mar our 
peace, Psalm li. 6—14. Jer. iii 22. xxxi. 18.; and by much 
hearty resignation of ourselves and our concerns to the provi- 
dence of God as our affectionate Father, Philip, iv. 6, 7. 1 Pet 
v. 7. Psalm Iv. 22, cxii. 7. 



OF SPIRITUAL CONSOLATION, &c. 445 

V. Jot in the Holy Ghost is a spiritual pleasure in living on, 
and walking in and with Christ, produced by the inhabitation 
and influence of his Spirit in our hearts. The grounds of this 
joy are, 1. What God in Christ is to us, Psalm xviii. 1 — 3. 
xxxiv. 1 — 4. ciii. 1 — 5. cxviii. 28. Hab. iii. 17, 18. i. 12. John 
xx. 28. Psalm xxiii. xxvii. xlvii. xci. Isa. xii. 2. What God, 
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost have done for and in us, 
Isa. lxi. 10. Psalm lxxi. 14 — 24. ciii. cxxxvi. cxlv. Rom. v. 
1 — 11. 2 Cor. i. 12. 3. What his promises and characters se- 
cure for us, Psalm xlii. 11. xliii. 5. Rom. vii. 28 — 39. 2 Tim. 

i. 12. iv. 8. Psalm lxxiii. 24 — 26. Such joy is ordinarily 

most full, 1. After remarkable grief at conversion, Isa. lxi. 2, 
3. lvii. 16—19. lxvi! 2. John xx. 20, 28. Acts ii. 37, 46. 

2. After dark nights of desertion, temptatation, and trouble, Isa. 
liv. 6 — 12. lvii. 16 — 19. Psalm xvi. 10, 11. xiii. cxvi. xl. 1 — 5. 

3. When entering into, or under much tribulation, especially 
for the cause of Christ, Acts v. 41. xvi. 25. 1 Pet. iv. 13, 14. 

4. When God bestows some remarkable deliverance upon his 
church, Exod. xv. Judges v. Isa. xlii. 10, 11. lxv. 17 — 19/ 
lxvi. 10. Jer. xxxi. 12—14. Rev. vii. 9 — 12. xii. 10. xi. 15, 

17. xv. 3. xiv. 1 — 4. xix. 1 — 6. 5. When he grants some re- 
markable favour almost quite unexpected, 1 Sam. ii. 1— lO. 
Luke i. 45 — 77. 

All spiritual comfort differs from that presumptuous confi- 
dence of God's love, sleep, of ill grounded peace of conscience 
and false joy, which maybe found in hypocrites or others, — as 
it mightily humbles the heart, Gen. xviii. 30, 32. xxxii. 10. 

1 Cor. xv. 10. ; promotes the cheerful and active study of uni- 
versal holiness, Psalm cxvi. 16. cxix. 32, 166.; renders sin more 
and more hated, Rom. vii. 14 — 24. Psalm cxix. 104, 128. 

2 Cor. vii. 1, 11. Gen. xxxix. 9. ; animates to an earnest fol- 
lowing after fellowship with God, Job xxiii. 3. xxix. 2. Psalm 
xlii. 1,2. lxiii. 1 — 8. xxvii. 4. lxxxiv. 2, 10. xlv. 1. 2 Cor. iii. 

18. John xvi. 22. ; and disposes to impartial self-examination, 

John iii. 21. Psalm xxvi. 1, 2. exxxix. 23, 24. xvii. 3. It 

is bestowed upon believers, 1. To qualify them for their proper 
work, Neh. viii. 10. Isa. lxiv. 5. 2. To reward them in, or 
after their performing it, Psalm xix. 11. 1 Cor. xv. 58. 3. To 
manifest the amazing virtue of Christ as the consolation of his 
people, Luke ii. 25. 2 Cor. ii. 14. 4. To manifest the riches 
of God's redeeming grace, and his delight in the prosperity of 
his servants, Eph. ii. 7. Psalm xxxv. 27. 

Reflect. Hast thou, my soul, these first fruits of the Spirit-, 
these earnests of eternal glory in thee ? Has the Holy Ghost 
thus dwelt in, preserved, attested, assured, quieted, and filled 



c 



446 OF GLORIFICATION BEGUN AND PERFECTED. 

thee with joy unspeakable and full of glory ? Let me take 

heed, lest my persuasion of God's love should be an ill-ground- 
ed fancy, — my inward quietness a mere sleep or delusion of 
conscience, — and my joy but common, carnal, legal, or delu- 
sive. — Alas ! that I have been so long named a Christian, and 
yet have lived so ignorant of Christian experience ! — that I 
have been so long a student, — a preacher, — and yet so igno- 
rant of these deep, these great, these sweet things of God ! — 
that I am so near eternity, and yet have so little tried how 
much of God might be enjoyed on earth to prepare me for it ! 



CHAP. VI. 

Of Glorification begun and perfected. 

GLORIFICATION, more generally taken, includes the 
whole of believers' honour and pleasure in time and eternity. 

I. The commencement of it in this life, which has been con- 
sidered in the preceding chapters, may be summed up in, 1. Our 
high state of honour as the spouse and members of Christ, and 
the friends, favourites, children, kings, and priests of God, in, 
and together with him, 1 Cor. i. 30. 2 Cor. v. 21. Eph. i- 
3 — 7. 1 John iii. 1. Rev. i. 6. 2'. Our spiritual manifestations 
and knowledge of God in Christ, Psal. xxvii. 4. lxviii. 24. 
lxiii.2. Heb. xi. 1,27. 2Cor. iii. 18. iv. 18. 3. Our honourable 
conformity to God in holiness of heart and life, 2 Cor. iii. 18. 
Exod. xv. 11. 1 Pet i. 15, 16. Matth. v. 48. 4. Our familiar 
intercourse with, and communications from God, Psalm cxliv 
15- xxxiii. 12. xvi. 5,6. xxxiv. 8. xxxvi. 6 — 9. lxv. 4. xxv. 14. 
Ixxxiv. 11. lxxxv. 12. 5. Our spiritual comforts, arising from 
certain views, of our present and future happiness, Psal. xxxii 
2. ciii. 1 — 5. xxiii. civ. 34. xxxi. 19- Heb. vi. 17, 18. Isa. xl. 
1, 2. li. 7, 12. lx. 19, 20. 

II. At death, the souls of believers enter upon the enjoyment 
of perfect honour and happiness. 1. Their death being un- 
stinged, by virtue of Christ's blood applied to them, Hos. xiii. 
14- Isa. xxv. 8, comes to them as an inestimable legacy be- 
queathed in his testament, 1 Cor. iii. 22. Isa. li. 11. and pro- 
cured by his infinitely kind intercession, John xvii. 24. 2. Their 
soul, not being killed with their body, Matth. x. 28. they long 
for death, Luke ii. 28 — 30. Phil. i. 23. 2 Cor. v. 1—8. and 
commit their departing soul to Christ, Psalm, xxxi. 5. Acts vii. 
59. 3. In its departing moment, it is made perfectly free from 



of GLORIFICATION BEGUN AND PERFECTED. U7 

sin, and conformed to God in holiness, Heb. xii. 23. Rev. xxi. 
4. 27. 1 John iii. 2. Eph.v. 25 — 27. Jude 24. 1 Cor. xiii. 12- 
4. Being separated from their body, it is immediately conveyed 
by angels into the heavenly state, in which it is inexpressibly 
active and happy, Luke xvi. 22, 23. xxiii. 42, 43. Acts vii. 59. 
2 Cor. v. 1—8. John xvii. 24. Rev. xiv. 13. Phil. i. 23. These 
scriptures, together with those that mention only two forms of 
the future state, or of the way to it, Matth. vii. 13, 14. Rom. 
ii. 7 — 10. ; or, which prove the perfection of Christ's satisfac- 
tion for the sins of his people, manifest that there is no purga- 
tory or middle state, between heaven and hell. 

III. At the last day, 1. The bodies of believers having, 
through their continued union to Christ, rested in their graves 
perfectly freed from all sin and trouble, Rev. xiv. 13. 1 Thess. 
iv. 16. Isa. lvii. 2. shall, by virtue of this union, and the 
powerful influence of his indwelling Spirit, be raised to life, 
strong, immortal, glorious, and spiritual, Isa. xxvi. 19. Job 
xix. 25 — 27. Rom. viii. 11, 23. Phil. iii. 21. 1 Cor. xv. 42 — 49. 
2. Their complete persons shallbepublickly acknowledged before 
all angels and men by Christ, as his redeemed bride, dear 
children, beloved friends, and obedient people, and acquitted 
from all the false charges which had been cast upon them, and 
absolved from all their real faults, Luke xii. 8. Matth. x. 32. 
xxv. 34. — 40. 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. 3. All of them in one assembly 
or body, shall be publickly and solemnly adjudged and invited, 
and blessed of the Father, and heirs of his prepared kingdom, 
to take an everlasting possession of it, Psal. xcvi. 13. xcviii. 
9. Matth. xxv. 34. 4. Along with Christ their Head, and 
attended by millions of angels, they shall be admitted into 
their heavenly state, while new heavens and a new earth are 
formed for enlarging the objects of their delightful contem- 
plation, Matt. xxv. 46. Psalm xiv. 15. Isa. xxxv. 10. 2 Pet. 
iii. 10, 13. 

IV. Through all eternity they shall be made perfectly blessed 
in the full enjoyment of God, Psalm xxxi. 19. 2 Cor. iv. 17- 
1. No evil thing, sin, or sorrow, shall ever enter, Rev. xx. 14, 

15. xxi. 4, 8, 25, 27. xxii. 3, 5, 15. Isa. xxxv. 10. Ii. 11. 
lx. 20. 2. Every thing calculated to promote true happiness 
shall be enjoyed in full perfection, Rev. vii. 17. Isa. xxxv. 10. 
lx. 19, 20. 1 Cor. xv. 28. 2 Cor. iv. 17. — Their place of abode 
shall be inexpressibly delightful, — a better country, — a city, 
a temple, and an house having foundations, built by God, — a new 
^Jerusalem, — Zion s — God's kingdom, palace, throne, paradise, 
barn, garner, — Abraham's bosom, the third heaven, &c. Heb. xi. 

16, 10. Rev. xxi. xxii. 1—5. Matth. xiii. 43. v. 34. Psalm 



448 OF GLORIFICATION BEGUN AND PERFECTED. 

adv. 15. Isa. lxvi. 1. Luke xxiii. 43. 2 Cor. xii. 2, 4. Rev. fi. 7. 
iii. 21. Matth. iii. 12. xiii. 30. viii. 11. Luke xvi. 22. 2 Cor. 
v. 1. John xiv. 2.— Their eternally and immutably fixed condi- 
tion, in this abode, shall be most glorious, — a treasure, joy, 
peace, rest, glory, an exceeding weight of glory, — thejoz/ of the 
Lord, — light, — life, — an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, — a 
walking with Christ in white robes, — a sitting with Christ on his 
throne, or at a splendid banquet, Matth. vi. 20. Isa. lvii. 2. 
Psalm lxxiii. 24. 2 Cor. iv. 17. Mat. xxv. 21, 23. Col. i. 12. 
Matth. xix. 17. Psalm xvi. 11. 1 Pet. i. 4. Rev. iii. 5, 21. 
5i. 26. vii. 17. Matth. viii. 11. — They shall enjoy the most 
delightful fellowship with angels and perfected saints, Matth. 
viii. 11. Heb. xii. 22, 23. Rev. v. 9 — 13. and with Christ as 
their elder brother, John xii. 26. xiv. 3. xvii. 24. Psalm xxii. 
22. Heb. xii. 24. 1 Thess. iv. 17.; and shall enjoy God himself 
in every known excellency of his nature, manifested through 
Christ, as their all in all, Heb. xii. 24. Psalm xliii. 4. lxxiii. 
26. 1 Cor. xv. 28. 

In this state of the full enjoyment of God is included, 1. An 
immediate vision with the eyes of their understanding, of the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, 1 John iii. 2. 1 Cor. 
xiii. 12. Psalm xvii. 15. John xvii. 24,25. xiv. 10. 2, Cor. iv. 
6. ; — while their bodily eyes behold the glorified body of Christ 
and these of his saints. 2. The most full experience of the 
goodness and love of God, Rev. vii. 17. Isa. lx. 19, 20. 1 Cor. 
xv. 28. 3. Perfect likeness to God in his imitable, and cor- 
respondence of heart with his inimitable perfections, Psalm 
xvii. 15. 1 John iii. 2. 4. Inexpressible love to God, and ta 
all around for his sake, 1 Cor. xiii. 8, 13. 5. Inconceivable 
delight and joy, expressed in unceasing and enraptured songs 
of praise to God, through, and together with Christ, Rev. vii. 
17. v. 9 — 13. Psal. xvi, 11. xvii. 15. xliii. 4. Isa. xxxv. 10. 

lx. 18—20. All this happiness will be everlasting, if not 

perpetually increasing by means of the heart-enlarging influence 
of such fellowship with God, 1 Thess. iv. 17. Matth. xxv. 46. 
Isa. lx. 19. li. 11. The everlasting love and covenant of God, 
the everlasting merit of Christ's righteousness, and the power 
of his intercession, secure the eternity of it, Jer. xxxi 3. Isa. 
liv. 8—10. 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Dan. ix. 24. Heb. ix. 12. x 14. 
vii. 25.— In this happy state there will be different degrees of 
glory, graciously proportioned to those of their sanctification 
on earth. 1 . Their state is represented as having different 
degrees of glory, John xiv. 2. 1 Cor. xv. 41, 42. iii. 8, 14, 15. 
2 Cor. ix. 5, 6. Matth. xix. 29. 2 There will be different 
degrees of torment in hell, proportioned to mrn's sinfulnc^ 
Matth. xi. 22, 24% 



OF GLORIFICATION BEGUN AND PERFECTED. 

lf.ct. But, O my soul, in what form am I to die, — to 
frise again, — 'and to live for ever? Shall I certainly die in the 
Lord? and, when he appears, shall I appear, with him in 
glory P Sh^ll I be for ever with him, — for ever like him, by 
seeing him as he is ? God forbid, that I should either commence 
or continue a preacher of Christ, before mine eternal interest in 
him be secured. How dreadful if, after lighting up his friends 
to their high mansions of bliss, I be turned downward into 
everlasting darkness, and bottomless pits of woe ! — be driven 
away from Jesus Christ, as a worker of iniquity, into ever- 
lasting fire prepared for the devil and his ange-ls ! — But, if I am 
a true, an experienced Christian, having a call from God to the 
ministerial work, let me bend all my powers,— all my prayers, 
— all my labours, — all my cares, to try how much Christ may 
be enjoyed, imitated, and served upon earth. — Let my lot, in 
earnestly following and preaching him, be as poor and distress- 
ful as it will, it is enough, that all be seasoned with the love, 
the blood, the presence, the influence, of the great God my 
Saviour. — I had ten thousand times rather be outwardly ruined 
with Christ, than reign with Csesars. — But what shall it be to 
enter into the joy of my Lord!— to reign in life with him J 
and for ever possess the redeeming three, as my infinite ALL 
xn all !— my God and my all ! — Unquestionably bliss inex- 
pressible, inconceivable ! 



Q 



450 OF THE LAW OF GOD. 



BOOK VI. 

OF THE EXTERNAL DISPENSATION OF THE COVENANT OF 
GRACE, BY THE WORD AND ORDINANCES OF GOD. 



IN Christ's administration of the new covenant, and confer- 
ring the blessings of it upon us, there concur, I. The Wori» 
of the covenant, in which God declares his mind to us, and 
which may be distinguished into the Law and the Gospel. 
2. The Ordinances of the covenant, in which God deals with 
us, and we with him, for the effectual application of his word, 
and his benefits therein exhibited. 3. The Spirit of the co- 
venant, by whose influences God's word and ordinances are 
made effectual for bringing us into the covenant, — making us 
actual partakers of its blessings, ---and to receive and improve 
them for his honour. 4. Faith, by which we, being quali- 
fied and actuated, receive and improve the word, ordinances, 
Spirit, and blessings of the covenant.-— The agency of the 
Spirit and faith having been repeatedly pointed out, and not 
pertaining to the external dispensation of this covenant, falls 
not under our present consideration. 



CHAP. I. 



Of the Law of God, in its Manifestation, Matter } 
Forms, and Uses to men. 



I. THE Law of God means either his whole word, Psalm i. 
2. xix. 8, 9. ; or all the books of the Old Testament, John x. 
34. 1 Cor. xiv. 21.; or the five books of Moses, Luke xxiv. 
44. Rom. iii. 21. John i. 45.; or the ceremonial dispensation 
of the new covenant, John i. 17.; or the covenant of works as 
opposed to the covenant of grace, Rom. vi. 14. vii. 4. viii. 2. 
Gal. iii. 10, 12, 13. But, properly taken, the law, as distin- 
guished from the gospel, is the manifested will of God, our 
infinitely high Sovereign, directing and binding all men what 
to be, do, or avoid. Direction and obligation are the two es- 
sential constituents of a law. A sanction of penalty is never 
annexed to it, but where the subjects are actually fallible. A 
promissory sanction is never annexed, but when the law is 
formed into a covenant, or inlaid in one. 



OF THE LAW OF GOD. 451 

The revealed law of God is ordinarily distinguished into 
the moral, ceremonial, and judicial. The ceremonial law pre- 
scribed the rites of worship used under the Old Testament, 
and was mostly grafted upon the second and fourth command- 
ments of the moral; and these rites, in their intended signifi- 
cation, were an obscure gospel, Col. ii. 17. Heb. x. 1. iii. — x. 
The judicial law directed the civil managements of the Israel- 
ites under God, as their principal governour, with respect to 
their encampments, marches, wars, inheritances, marriages, 
punishments, rulers, &c. Exod. xxi. xxii. xxiii. Num. i. ii. x. 
xxvii. xxxiv. xxxv. xxxvi. Lev. xviii. xx. Deut. xvii. xix.--- 
xxv. ; and is reducible to the correspondent precepts of the 
moral, and never bound any but the Jews, in their national 
establishment, any further than moral equity requires.-— The 
moral law is that declaration of God's will which directs and 
binds all men in everv age and place to their whole duty to 
him, themselves, or their neighbours. -—The leading articles 
of this law, proceeding from the very nature of God, and his 
relation to men as their Creator, Preserver, and Governour, 
are altogether unchangeable and indispensable, Mai. v. 17. 19. 
Rom. iii. 31. xiii. 8, 9. Tit. iii. 8, 14. James ii. 8, 10. And all 
the ten commandments of it are either more or less directly 
inculcated in the New Testament. The substance of the first 
is in John iii. 19. v. 42. 2 Pet. i. 5---8. iii. 18. 2 Thess. i. 8. 
1 John iii. 23. iv. 19. Matth. iv. 10. Acts ii. 38. Matth. xxii. 
37. 1 Pet. ii. 17. Heb. xii. 28. Rom. iii. 18. 2 Cor. i. 6. 
1 Tim. iv. 7. vi. 17. j— the substance of the second, in John iv. 
23,24. v. 39. Rev. i. 3. Rom. xii. 1—6. 1 Thess. v. 17. Col. iii. 
16. Eph. v. 19. James v. 13, 14. 1 Cor. x. 14. 1 John v. 21. ; 
—of the third in Matth. v. 34 — 37. xv. 9. vi. 7. James i. 23. 
v. 12. John iv. 24. 1 Cor. xiv. 15. ; — of the fourth in Mark 
xvi. 2, 9- John xx. 19,26. Acts xx. 7. 1 Cor. xvi. 2. Rev. i. 
10. ;— of the fifth in Eph. vi. 1 — 9. v. 22 — 33. iv. 32. Col. iii. 
18—25. iv. 1. Tit. ii. 3—10. 1 Pet. ii. 18. iii. 1—8. 1 Thess. 
v. 12 — 14- 1 Tim. iii. — vi. And the other fve commands are 
repeatedly inculcated together, Mat. xix. 18, 19. Rom. xiii. 

9- Gal. v. 14. James ii. 8 — 11- Such articles of the moral 

law as do not immediately proceed from the nature of God 
or his relations to men, admit of God's excepting particular 
cases, but of no other. Thus, in Adam's family, brethren 
lawfully married their own sisters ; God might require a bro- 
ther to marry the widow of a childless brother deceased ; or 
require a man to sacrifice his own son, &c. 

God's moral law is manifested, 1. As partlv, but obscurely, 
written in the heart of all men, Rom. ii. 14, 15. i. 19, 20, 32. 
2. As summarily contained in the ten commandments, Exod. 
xx. 3—17. Deut. v. 6—21. 3. As largely held forth and ex r 



4S2 OF THE LAW OF GOD, 

plained in the whole Bible, in every divine requirement or pro- 
hibition, director indirect, D^ut. iv. — xxxi. Mat. v vii. Eph. 

iv.— - vi. Col. iii. iv. Rom. xii. — xv. Phil. ii. — iv. 1 Thess. v. 
Heb. x. — xiii. James i. to Rev. iii. — It was manifested to 
Adam, its natural demands being wrote on his heart, and its 
positive requirements revealed to him, Gen. i. 26, 27. ii. 16, 
17 — It was manifested to the Israelites at Sinai, proclaimed 
in a most solemn and terrible manner, to represent the dan- 
ger of those that are under it as a covenant, Exod. xix. xx. 
Deuu iv. v. Heb. xii. 23, 29 — Wrote upon tables of stone, 
to mark its perpetual obligation, and the hardness of men's 
hearts, on which the Holy Ghost writes it, — Exod. xxiv. 12. 
xxxiv. 1, 28. — And the hewing of the hitter tables by Moses 
might import, that we must be convinced by the law as a cove- 
nant, before it can be wrote in our heart as a rule of life. — It 
was thus solemnly published, 1. To confirm the original law of 
nature. 2- To correct men's mistakes concerning its demands. 
3. To supply that which was wanting in it. 4. To convince 
the Israelites of their need of a Mediator in order to their eter- 
nal salvation, or their being the peculiar people of God, Gal. 
iii. 19, 20. 

Christ and his apostles republished and further explained 
the moral law, and vindicated it from the false interpretations 
ol the Jewish doctors, Matth. v. xv. ; but they did not in the 
least enlarge it. 1. It was long before perfect, Deut. iv. 2. v. 
32. xii. 32. Psalm xix. 7, 8. cxix. 96. ; nor could it be correct- 
ed, without impeaching the wisdom and equity of God, who 
framed it. 2. Christ came not to destroy the ancient moral 
law, but to fulfil it, Matth. v. 17, 18. 3. He and his apostles 
taught nothing but what Moses and the prophets had done, 
Matth. xxii. 37 — 40. vii. 12. Rom. i. 3. Acts xxvi. 22. The 
loving- of brethren is an old commandment, and from the be- 
ginning, in respect of its matter ; and only ?iew, in respect of 
its additional enforcement by Christ's death for us, and his 
clear publication- of the gospel, 1 John ii. 8. John xiii. 34. 
Self-denial, taking up our cross, and imitating Christ, were re- 
quired in the Old Testament as well as in the New. In self- 
denial and taking up his cross, Abraham left his native coun- 
try, Gen. xii. Heb. xi. 8. ; the pious Levites slew their idola- 
trous brethren. Exod. xxxii. 27, 28.; Job blessed God under 
his heavy troubles. Job i. ii. ; Moses chose affliction with his 
brethren, Heb. xi. 25, 26 — Almost every prophet and good 
man appears denving himself and taking up his cross, 2 Sam. 
Kvr. 5 — 11. 1 Kings xvii. 2 Chron. xxiv. 20 — 22. Dan. iii. vi. 
Neh. ii. v. The loving God above all, necessarily requires 
self-denial and taking up our cross when it is for his glory, 
Pslam cxv. 1. 1 Cor. tL. 19, 20. 1 Pet. iv. 14. Christ being 



OF THE LAW OF GOD. 453 

>God, the imitation of him in the divine excellencies he ther 
had, was required under the Old Testament, Lev. xi. 44. 
xix. 2. xx. 7. — Chnst added nothing to the three first com- 
mandments, — no new form of prayer : That which he taught 
his disciples contains nothing but what had been long before 
requested, Isa. lxiii. 16. Psalm lxxii. lvii. 11. cxliii. cxix. 
Prov. xxx. 8. Psalm xxv. 11. xvi. 1. xvii. 2. — The worship- 
ping Christ, and God in his name, was practised under the 
Old Testament, Psalm ii. 12. xv. 11. xcvii. 7. Heb. i. 6. Exod. 
xxiii. 21. Gen. xviii. 23. xlviii. 16. Dan. ix. 17- Psalm lxxxiv. 
9. ', men were forbidden to have images, or frequent idolatrous 
temples, as well as now, Exod. xxiii. 24. Deut. xii. 23. vii. 
2, 3. Psalm xvi. 4. ; and to swear rashly or irreverently, Deut. 
vi. 13. x. 20. Eccl. ix. 2. Isa. lxv. 16. Jer. iv. 2. v. 7. Matth. 

v. 34 — 37- James v. 12. Nothing moral in the fourth and 

fifth command is in the least altered.— -Sinful anger, injuring 
brethren, private revenge, unchaste looks or words, unneces- 
sary divorce, and polygamy, were forbidden before Christ 
came, as well as since, Gen. iv. 6. xxvii. 41, 43. xxxi. 24. xlv. 
8. xl<x. 7. Job xxix. 16. xxxi. 1. 2 Kings v. 13. Deut. v. 20, 
21. xvii. 5. xxiv. 1. Mai. ii. 14, 15. Lev. xix. 8. 

In respect of Quality, the moral law is, 1. Universal extend- 
ing to all men, in every age, in all their dispositions, thoughts, 
words, and works, Rom. ii. 14. iii. 19. 20. iv. 15. v. 13. 2. Per- 
fect, requiring all good dispositions and exercises, in the most 
perfect degree, and forbidding every thing sinful in any degree, 
Psalm xix. 7. cxix. 96, 128. 3. Perpetual, directing and bind- 
ing men both through time and eternity, Luke xvi. 17- Mat. 5. 
18. 4. Holy, a transcript of God's infinite holiness, and bind- 
ing men to perfect holiness, Rom. vii. 12. 5. Just, requiring 
nothing but what we owe to God, ourselves, or our neighbours, 
and what we, in Adam, had originally strength to perform, 
Rom. vii. 12. Psalm xix. 8. cxix. 7, 128. 6. Good, requiring 
nothing but what is good in itself, and calculated to promote 
the happiness of all under it, Rom. vii. 12. ii. 7, 10. Psalm xix. 
11. cxix. 165. 7. Spiritual, reaching all the powers of men's 
souls, and requiring all obedience to proceed from spiritual 
principles, and to be performed in a spiritual manner, and di- 
rected to proper spiritual ends, Rom. vii. 14. 8. Exceeding 
broad, extending its requirements and prohibitions to multitudes 
of things in every moment, place, and circumstance, Psalm 
cxix. 96. 

II. Obedience to this law consists in our being-and acting 
answerably to its requirements and prohibitions, from an high 
regard to its divine authority. Or, it is the making the matter 
of it our Puk, and the authority of God in it the Reason of our 



454 OP THE LAW OF GOD. 

whole conduct. It must be, 1. Sincere and candid, Psalm xviii. 
23. Hcb. xi. 17. Num. xiv. 40 — 44. 2. Constant, notwithstand- 
ing all alterations in our state or circumstances, Psalm cxix. 44. 

3. Tender, abstaining from the smallest appearance of evil, 
1 Thess. v. 22. Judg. ii. 5. Ezek. vi. ©. 4. Ready and cheer- 
ful, Psalm xviii. 44. Gal. i. 16. Heb. xi. 8. 5. Universal, to 
every precept, in every point, and by every power in us, Psalm 
cxix. 6. 6. Absolute, determined by tbe revealed will of God, 
though we perceive no other reason, Heb. xi. 8. Matth. xxiii. 
8-— 10. Acts iv. 19. v. 29. 7. Perfect, without the smallest de- 
fect, and answerable to the highesi demands of holiness, Mat. 
v. 48. Lev. xi. 44. 1 Pet. i. 13, 15, 16. 8. In our case, Evan- 
gelical, having Jesus Christ offered and bestowed in the gospel, 
for its origin, cause, motive, pattern, and end, 1 Tim. i. v. Rom. 
i. v. 2 Cor. x. 5. Eph. v. 2. Col. iii. 17. 1 Pet. iv. 11. 

Love to God, to ourselves, and to our neighbours, is the ge- 
neral duty of obedience required by the moral law. I. Love to 
God is the source or root of all our obedience to the law, John 
xiv. 15, 21 — 24. ; the chief stream or branch of obedience, 
1 Cor. xiii. ; and the all-comprehending substance of it, Rom. 
xiii. 10. — We must love God with all our heart, soul, mind, 
and strength, Matth. xxii. 37. : — Which includes, 1 . A true spi- 
ritual knowledge of what he is in himself, and as connected with 
us, John xvii. 3. 2. A hearty choice of him as our chief good, 
Psalm lxxiii. 25, 26. 3. A cleaving to him as our God and 
all in all, Acts xi. 23. 4. An high esteem of him in all that 
he is and does, Song v. 10. Psalm xxxv. 10. Exod. xv. 11. 
Psalm viii. 1, 9. xxxvi. 7- civ. 34. cxxxix. 17, 18. Zech. ix. 17. 
5. Ardent desire after familiar enjoyment of him, Psalm xxvii. 

4. xiii. 1, 2. lxxxiv. 2. lxiii. 1 — 8. 6. Delight in him, Song i. 

13. Psalm xxxvii. 4. cxlix. 2. And thus our love to him 

must be Judicious, Mark xii. 33. : Sincere and hearty, Prov. 
xxiii. 26. : Pure and absolute, for the sake of his excellency and 
kindness to us, Song i. 3. Psalm xxxvi. 7- 1 John iv. 19. : Strong 
and vigorous, Song viii. 6,7. : Superlative, far transcending that 
which we bear to other objects, Luke xiv. 26. ; and operative in 
holy exercises, 1 John iii. 1 8. Rom. xiii. 10. xiv. 6, 8,9. II. We 
ought to love ourselves, in valuingourselvesas God's rational crea- 
tures, having immortal souls capable of an eternal enjoyment and 
service of him, and so unspeakably more important than all the 
irrational world, Mat. xvi. 26. — In humble satisfaction with our 
particular natural form as the work of God, Psalm c.3. cxxxix. 
14 — 16. ; in detesting and avoiding every thing which tends to 
our real hurt, Rom. xii. 9. Psalm cxix. 104. Acts xvi. 28. ; — in 
laying out our whole care, knowledge, ability, and opportunity 
to promote our own holiness, honour, safety, and comfort, in 
subordination to the glory of God, Mat. vi. 33. John vi. 27- 



OP THE LAW OP GOD. 455 

Rom. ii. 7, 10. 1 Tim. iv. 8. III. All men on earth being our 
neighbours, we ought to love them, in duly esteeming them for 
the gilts, grace, and usefulness, with which God hath endowed 
them, 1 Pet. ii. 17. Phil. ii. 3. Horn. xii. 10. 1 Pet. iii. 8. iv. 8. ; 
— and delighting in them in subordination to our superlative 

delight in God, Psalm xvi. 3. cxix. 63. 1 Pet. i. 22. We are 

to love them as ourselves, in doing every thing for and to them, 
which we could reasonably wish them to do to us in like cir- 
cumstances, Mat.vii. 12.; and in loving and doing good to them 
from true love to their persons, 1 John iii. 17, 18. 1 Pet. i. 22. 
iii. 8. iv. 8. 

The whole moral law, which regulates our love to God and 
men, and all the actings of it, is contained in the ten command' 
ments, — the first four of which direct our love to God, prescrib- 
ing the object, means, manner, and peculiar season of our wor- 
ship ; — and the last six direct our love to man, answerably to re- 
lative connections, life, chastity, property, reputation, and in- 
ward disposition ; — our whole duty to man being thus founded 
on our relations and duty to God, Exod. xx. 3 — 17. Deut. v. 

6 — 21. As these commandments contain very much matter 

in few words, the following rules must be carefully observed in 
understanding and explaining them : I. Wherever a duty is 
required, the contrary sin is forbid ; and wherever a sin is for- 
bid, the contrary duty is required. II. Wherever a sin is for- 
bid, every sin of the same kind, and every cause, occasion, and 
appearance thereof, are also forbid ; and where a duty is com- 
manded, every duty of the same kind, and all the means of per- 
forming it, are required. III. Whatever we ourselves are bound 
to be, do, or forbear, we are bound, according to our stations, 
to do all that we can to make others to be and do the same. 

IV. That which is forbid is never to be done : but actions re- 
quired are only to be performed when God gives opportunity. 

V. The same sin is forbidden, and the same duty required, in 
different, nay, in all the commandments, in different respects. 

VI. No sin is ever to be committed in order to avoid a greater; 
but some duties required must give place to others. Our natural 
duties to God must be preferred to our natural duties to men, 
Acts iv. 19. v. 29. And the positive worship of God must 
sometimes give place to the natural duties of necessity and 
mercy towards men, Hos. vi. 6. 

I. The First Commandment being, as it were, the founda- 
tion or corner-stone of the whole law, especially of the first ta- 
ble, is obeyed or disobeyed, in all our obedience or disobedience 
to any commandment. — It particularly requires, I. Know- 
ledge of God, as God, in his existence, perfections, persons, 
purposes, and works, 1 Chron. xxviii. 9. John xvii. 3. 1 John 
v. 7, 20. Psalm cvii. 43.; — and, as our God in Christ, Exod, 



456 OF THE LAW OF GOD. 

xxxiv. 6, 7, 9. 2 Cor. v. 18 — 21.; not merely speculative fc 
practical, conforming our heart and life to his image, 2 Cor. iii 

18. John xiii. 17. Eph. iv. 32. v. 1, 2. 1 Pet. i. 15. 16. II. Ac- 
knowledgment of him as God and our God, I, Inwardly 
in our heart. 1. In crediting all that we know concerning him 
upon his own testimony, John xx. 31. 1 Thess. ii. 13. 2. In 
believing on Christ as our only Saviour and way to God, and 
chusing God in him for our everlasting portion and Lord, 
1 John iii- 23. Psalm xvi. 2. cXlii. 5. xxxi. 14. xci. 2. cxviii. 28. 
3. In deliberate renunciation of every idol, and solemnly sur- 
rendering up ourselves to him as our Husband and King, Mat. 
v. 29, 30. Hos. xiv. 3, 8. Jer. iii. 16, 19. Josh. xxiv. 15. 4. In 
constant faithfulness to our covenant relations and engagements 
to him, keeping our hearts from every thing else to him, as our 
superlatively beloved all in all, Prov. iv. 23. Psalm lxxiii. 
23 — 26. Song iv. 12. 5. In truly penitent turning from our 
indwelling lusts and sinful practices to him with grief and ha- 
tred of our sin, and with full purpose of, and endeavour after 
new obedience, Acts xx. 21. Jer. iii. 13, 14, 21 — 23. xxxi. 18, 

19. Hos. xiv. 1 — 3, 8. 6. In constant correspondence of our 
inward frame of spirit with the excellencies of God, and the 
manifestations thereof in Christ, — serving and worshipping him, 
who is a Spirit, in spirit and in truth, John iv. 24. Rom. i. 9. 
viii. 5. 1 Cor. xiv. 15. ; enlarging our heart to embrace and en- 
joy him as Infinite, Psalm lxxxi. 10. Isa. xxvi. 8, 9. ; looking 
not at things temporal, but at things Eternal, 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. ; 
humble and absolute dependence on him as All-sufficient and In- 
dependent, Song viii. 5. ; unmoved trust in, cleaving to, and imi- 
tationof him as Unchangeable,^.^, iii. 6. Psal.lxxxix. 34. Deut. 
iv. 4. x. 20. Josh, xxiii. 8. Acts xi. 23. Prov. xxiv. 21. Job ii. 3. 

1 Cor. xv. 58. ; living alway as in his presence and under his All- 
seeing eye, Psalm xvi. 8. Gen. xvi. 13. Jer. xxiii. 24.; filial 
awe of, and trust in his Power, Greatness, and Equity, Heb. xii- 
28, 29. Job vi. 14. xiii. 15. ; delight in, and conformity to his 
unspotted Holiness, 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. Lev. xi. 44. Mat. v- 48.; 
humble receiving, admiring, and rejoicing in his Goodness, Jer. 
xxxi. 12. Gen. xxxii. 10. ; trust in, and imitation of his truth, 
candour, and faithfulness, 2 Chron. xx. 20. 7- In affections 
correspondent with his word, as manifesting his excellencies, — » 
searching, believing, loving, delighting in, and feeding upon it, 
as his word of salvation, Psalm cxix. Gen. xxxii. 9 — 12. 2 Sam. 
vii. 25. Job xxiii. 12. Jer. xv. 16. Acts xiii. 26. 1 Tim. i. 15. 

2 Tim. iii. 15 — 17. ; and with his work,— discerning, magnify- 
ing and praising him in it, — as infinitely glorious, wise, power- 
ful, holy, and good, in Creation, Psalm viii. 3. cxxxvi. 5-;— -as 
just, wise, almighty, faithful, and gracious in afflictive provi- 
dences, and therefore bearing them patiently, humbly, and 



mE LAW OF GOD. 457 

'hankfully, Job i. 21. ii- 10. Psalm cxix. 67, 71, 75. ; as graci- 
ous and merciful in smiling providences, and therefore exercis- 
ing love, wonder, and gratitude, Gen. xxxii. 10. 1 Thess. v. 

18- Phil. iv. 4, 6. Col. iii. 17. ; as infinitely wise, powerful, 

just, and merciful in redemption, and hence approving it with 
r whole heart, and trusting our temporal and eternal happi- 
ness wholly to it, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Phil. iii. 8, 9. 2. We must 
also acknowledge him outwardly, as God and our God, in an 
opeu and steadfast profession of him, as such, — and of his truths 
for his sake, — and in a correspondent practice, 1 Pet. iii. 15, 16. 
Heb. iv. 14. x. 23. Eph. iv. — vi. Col. i. — iv. 1 Thess. i. — v 
Rora. xii — xv. vi. ; — and that in order to glorify him, Ph, 
20. Luke ix. 26. ; edify our neighbour, Phil. i. 12, 13. Tit. iii 
8, 14. ; and to promote our own spiritual advantage, Mark viii. 
35,38. Rom. x. 10. Luke xii. 8. III. Worshipping and glo- 
rifying God as God and our God in Christ, 1. Inwardly, in 
our mind, thinking of him, Mai. iii. 16- Psalm lxiii. 6. cxxxix. 
17, 18. civ. 34. ; esteeming him, Exod. xv. 11. Psalm cxxxv. 
10. viii. 1, 9. xxxvi. 7- lxxiii- 25. ; and believing him, Exod. 
xiv. 31. 1 Thess. ii. 13. ; — in our conscience, — standing in awe 
of his authority, Psalm xliv. 20, 21. Jobxxxi. 14, 23. ; subject- 
ing it to him alone, without reserve, Mat. xxiii. 8 — 10. iv. 10. 
Jam. iv. 12. ; receiving his law as marked with his infinite au- 
thority, Isa. viii. 20. v. 20. Mat. vi. 22, 23. ; constant applica- 
tion of Christ's blood for purging it, and as the means of our 
unceasing familiarity with God, Heb. x. 19 — 22. ; self-excite- 
ment to duty upon an evangelical foundation, Luke i. 74, 75. 
Psalm cxvi. 12, 16. ciii. 1 — 5. ; and accusing or excusing us ac- 
cording to our state, our practice, and the tenor of his law, 
Rom. ii. 15. Psalm Ixv. 3. cxxx. 3, 4. ; in our will, — so- 
lemnly and repeatedly chusing him, Josh. xxiv. 15. Psalm xvi. 
2. lxxiii. 25. cxix. 57. xci. 2. cxlii. 5. Lam. iii. 24. ; making 
him our chief end, in every thing we do, 1 Cor. x. 31. 1 Pet. 
iv. 11. Rom. xiv. 8. ; denying our natural, civil, and religious 
self for his sake and honour, Mat. xvi. 24. Luke xiv. 26. xvii- 
10. ; resigning ourselves to his commanding and providential 
will, Rom. vi. 17. Gen. xxii. 1 — 18. Luke xxiv. 26. Psalm 
xlvii. 4. xxxix. 9. cxix. 71, 75. ; patient bearing his afflicting 
rods, Psalm xxxix. 9. 1 Sam. iii. 18. 2 Sam. xvi. 10, 11. Lam. 

iii. 22, 39. Micahvii. 7 — 10. Isa. liii. 7. ; in our affections, 

—loving him as infinitely excellent and kind, Deut. vi. 5. Psal- 
xviii. 1 — 3. cxvi. 1.; desiring more full enjoyment of him, Isa 
xxvi. 8, 9- Phil. i. 23. 2 Cor. v. 4, 8.; delighting and rejoicing 
in him, and what he hath said, done, or will do for us, Psalm 
xxxii. 11. cxlix. 2. Isa. Ixi. 10. Hab. iii. 18. Psalm lx. 6. 
Luke i. 47-; grieving for offences given him, Zech. xii. 10. 
Psalm cxix- 136- ; kindlv fear of him, Isa- viii- 13. Hos- iii. 5. 

3 P 



458 OF THE LAW OF GOD. 

Psalm xxxvi. 1. cxix. 120. Mat. x. 28. ; judicious, prudent, and 
well governed zeal for his honour and interest in the world , 
Psalm lxix. 9. cxix. 139. ; loathing and abhorring ourselves for 
our sinfulness, as contrary to his nature and will, Ezek. xvi. 63. 
xxxvi. 31,32. Job xlii. 5, 6. Isa. vi. 5. lxiv. 6. Jer. xxxi. IS. 
Kom. vii. 14 — 24. ; — in our memory delightfully recording and 
remembering the discoveries which we have had of him in his 
word and works, Psalm cxix. 11. xxxvi. 6, 7. ciii. — cvii. cxvi. 

cxxxvi. cxlv. — cl. John ii. 17. Job xxxvi. 24.; inourxvhole 

soul, trusting and hoping in him, as our Saviour, Husband, Fa- 
ther and God, for all that we need, Isa. xxvi. 4. Psalm cxxx. 
V,8. cxix. 49,81.; — in humility towards him, ; icahvi. 8.; and 
hence, under a deep sense of our own ignorance, weakness, and 
unworthiness, consulting him in all our ways, and giving him 
the glory of any good in or done by us, Prov. iii. 5, 6. Isa. xl. 
6. 2 Cor. iii. 5. 1 Cor. xv. 10. Psalm cxv. 1. ; voluntarily un- 
dertaking the meanest services to which he calls us, Acts, xxi. 
13.; and restricting ourselves within the limits of our proper 
station, Psalm cxxxi. 1. 1 Cor. vii. 20, 24. ; and labouring in 
internal prayers and praises, Phil. iv. 6. Exod. xiv. 8. Psuim 
cxix. 58. xiv. 1. cviii. 1. 2. Outwardly, in our due attend- 
ance upon the instituted ordinances of his worship, Mat. xxviii. 
20. 1 Cor. xi. 2. ; and a due performance of all that duty which 
we owe to ourselves or others from a regard to his authority, 
and answerably to his nature, and to his relation to us, Mat. 
v. 16. 1 Cor. x. 31. 1 Pet. iv. 11. 

The first commandment forbids, I. Atheism, which is ei- 
ther speculative, in which men flatly and directly deny or doubt 
God's existence, perfections, and providence, Psalm xiv. 1. liii. 
1. Eph. ii. 12. 1 John ii. 23. Ezek. viii. 12. Psalm x. 11. 
Men are often tempted to this by their prosperity, or outrage- 
ousness in wickedness, or by the uncommon afflictions of the 
godly; but they rather attempt to force themselves into it, 
than actually to fix it in opposition to the dictates of their con- 
science, and the manifold proofs to the contrary, Prov. xxx. 9. 
i. 32. Jer. ii. 5, 25. Mai. iii. 13,14. i. 13. Psalm' lxxiii. 13.;— or 
practical, in which men live as if there were not a God ; having 
no knowledge of him, no faith in him, no choice of him, no love 
to him, no spiritual thoughts of him, no holv desires after him ; 
— no spiritual impressions of his perfections, discernment of 
him in his word or works, or activity in his worship ; — indulg- 
ing themselves in secret sins, wishing there were no Gcd to 
punish them, and encouraging others in wickedness, Psalm xiv. 
1. Eph. ii. 2, 12. Psalmxxxvi.3. Mic.vi. 16.; — live without anj 
profession of religion, or appearance of regard to the worship of 
God, Jer. x. 25. ; or live wickedly under the mask of a profes- 
sion, Phil. iii. 19. Tit. i. 15, 16. 2 Tim. iii. 2 — 5. ; or abandon 



OF THE LA.W OF GOD. 45? 

that religious profession and practice which they once had, 
John vi. 6G. Hos. vi. 4, 5. Heb. vi. 4 — 6. II. Profaneness 
respecting the object of worship, in not worshipping and glorify- 
in^ him as God and our God; — which, in our mind, includes 
natural, slothful, or wilful ignorance of him and spiritual 
things, Hos. iv. 1,6. Isa. xxvii. 11. 2Thess.i.8. Jobxxi.14.; 
misapprehensions of him, Acts xvii. 23, 29. Rom. i. 21. 1 Cor. 
i. 23. ; nf gleet and aversion to think of him, Psalm x. 4. Rom. 
i. 28. ; want of honourable, and conception of vile thoughts 
concerning him, Isa. liii. 3, 4. Psalm x. 13. 1. 21. Ezek. viii. 
12.; doubting, unbelief,and errour, contrary to his declarations 
in his word, 2 Kings vi. 33. vii. 19. Deut. xxix. 19. Actsxxvi 
9, Gal. v. 20- ; rash credulity of others instead of God, 1 John 
iv. 1. John v. 43. 2Thess. ii. 11,12. — In our conscience, it in- 
cludes carnal security, Zeph. i. 12. ; blindness and misinforma- 
tion, Isa. v. 20.; inactivity, stupidity, senselessness, 1 Tim. iv. 
2. Kph. iv. 18, 19.; partiality, making most ado about lesser 
matters, and chiefly disapproving other men's sinfulness, Mat. 
vii. 1 — 4. xxiii. 23.; deceitfulness, pretending regard to God, 
when it is biassed by bribes, Ezek. xiii. 19. ; legality, exciting 
men to follow after righteousness by the works of the law, 
Rom. ix. 31, 32. x. 2, 3. vii. 9.; submission to men's authority 
instead of God's word, 1 Cor.iii.4,5. Hos. v. 11. Mic.vi. 16. — In 
our will, it includes rejection of the gospel-offers of Christ, and 
God in him, to be our God, Hos. xi. 2, 7. Psalm lxxxi. 10 — 12. 
Heb. x. 26, 29. ; neglect of surrendering ourselves to God, and 
not making him our chief end, Eph. ii. 12. Hos. x. 1. Zech. 
vii. 5.; hypocritical dedication of ourselvesto him, Mic...iii. 11. 
Hos. viii. 2. ; disregard of our solemn. engagements to him, Jer. 
v. 4, 5. Psalm 1. 16, 17. lxxviii. 10, 57. ; inward covenanting 
against him and his interests, Eccl. v. 6. Hos. v. 11. 2 Cor. xiii. 
$. ; discontentment with, and murmuring against his words or 
works, Job xxxiv. 33, 37. Jude 16. Psalm xxxvii. 1 — 8. Jer. 
xii. 1- xx. 7 — 18. ; unsanctified contentment, seeking that satis- 
faction which we cannot find in one creature, in another, — sa- 
tisfaction with our lot, without regard to the will of God in it ; 
indolent, fool-hardy, stupid, and brutish patience under our 
troubles, — and enduring them as just, but not as good, — nay 
very good for us, Isa. xlii. 25. xxxix. 8. Psalm cxix. 71. — In 
our affections, it includes want or weakness of love to, and de- 
sire after, or delight in God, aversion from, and hatred of him, 
and what pertains to him and bears his image, Rom. i. GO. 
Psalm xiv. 1. Job xxxiv. 9. ; deadness in, and weariness of his 
service, Mal.iii. 13.i. 13. Amos viii. 5. ; lukewarm indifference 
about spiritual things, Rev. iii. 16. ; corrupt, indiscreet, blind, 
and passionate zeal, not proportioned to the importance of its 
■object; or chiefly against sin in others, Rom. >:■ 2. Mat. xxiil. 



460 OF THE LAW OP GOD. 

23. vii. 1 — 4. Gen. xxxviii. 24. 2 Sam. xii. 5. ; and which car- 
ries us out of our station to act from proud and selfish views, 
without a proper call, and without proper pity to offenders^ 
2Sam.vi.6. 2 Kings x. 16. Luke ix. 54. 2 Cor. ii. 7. 2Thess. 
iii. 6, 7. ; want of filial reverence of God, rashness and irreve- 
rence of heart in his presence, Psalm lxxxix. 7. Eccl. v. 1. ; un- 
concern at his threatenings, Amos iii. 8. Jer. v. 22. Isa. v. 19.; 
presumptuous rebellion against his warnings, Psalm xxxvi. 1. 
Ezek. xii. 27. Jer. xliii. 1, 2. xliv. 15, 16. xxiii. 17, 33.; hope 
of impunity in sin, Deut. xxix. 19. Psalm x. 11, 13. ; obdurate 
impenitence in sin, manifested in oar denying, extenuating, ex- 
cusing, or transferring the blame of it in others, Rom. ii. 5. 
Prov. xxviii. 13. xxix. 1. xxx. 20. ; bold and curious inclination 
to pry into God's secrets, Deut. xxix. 29. ; presumptuous confi- 
dence that he will support us in that to which he never called 
us, — tempting or putting him to the trial, what he can or will 
do, in exercising his patience or inflicting his judgments, Mat. 
iv. 7. Psalm xcv. 9. Mai. iii. IS. ; diffidence, anxiety, and de- 
spair, Jer. ii.25. Mat. vi. 34. Gen. iv. 13. Exek.xxxvii.il. 
— In our memory, it includes our readiness to forget God, his 
words and works, and aptness to retain that which is trifling 
and wicked instead thereof, Jer. ii. 32. Psalm i. 22. Deut. 
xxxii. 1 8 — In our whole soul, it includes pride, Psalm cxxxviii. 
6. Hab. ii. 4. Prov. xxx. 12, 13. ; insensibleness of our weak- 
ness and sinfulness, Jer. ii. 31. viii. 6, 12. 1 Cor. x. 12. Mat. 
vii. 2, 3. ; contempt of duty, or want of inclination to it, be- 
cause of its apparent meanness, 1 Sam. ii. 30. 2 Kings v. 11, 
12. ; inward meddlings with things above our situation or ability. 
Psalm cxxxi. 1, 2. Num. xvi. 1. ; infervency and wandering of 
heart in religious duties, 1 Thess. v. 19. Eph. vi. 19, 20. Rom. 
xii. 11. ; unthankfulness to God for benefits received, and thank- 
fulness for success in sin, Deut. viii. 17- Zech. xi. 5.; inward 
slighting God and his law, — resisting and grieving his Spirit, 
Psalm 1. 17. Deut. xxxii. 15. Isa. Ixiii. 10. Acts vii. 51. Eph. 
iv. 30. Heb. x. 29. Mat. xii. 31, 32.; and, in so far as our 
inward frame and exercise is not suited to his glorious excel- 
lencies, and his new-covenant relations to us, Rom. i. 21. In 
our external appearances, it includes our not avouching him in 
our profession as God and our God in Christ, and not attending 
that profession which we make of him with a suitable practice, 
2 Tim. iii. 2 — 5. Tit. i. 15, 16. III. Idolatry, which is the 
giving that worship and honour to any other, which is due to 
God alone, — and is either more gross or refined. In the more 
gross idolatry, heathens worshipped the sun, moon, stars,kings, 
heroes, benefactors, inventors of arts, nay dogs, cats, crocodiles, 
serpents, leeks, onions, harlots, &c. Jer. xliv. 3, 8, 18. 1 Kings 
xi. 2. 2 Kings xvii. 29 — 33. Rom. i. 21—25. And papists wor- 



OF THE LAW OF GOD. 461 

ship angels, popes, pretended relicks of Christ and his saints, con- 
secrated wafers, &c The sinfulness and absurdity of such worship 
isevident: 1. Nocreaturesdeserveourworship,beingatbest little 
superiour,and many of them inferiour to us. Being weak,or at least 
finite, they are unfit to be trusted, Jer. xvii. 5. Isa. ii. 22. Rom. 
x. 14. The most exalted creatures cannot judge of the inward 
truth or importance of our worship, Rev. ii. 23. Jer. xvii. 10.; 
nor can they grant our requests, or even a blessing on our 
outward enjoyments, Exod. xxiii. 25. 2. God hath given us 
no warrant by precept, promise, or approved example, to 
invoke or adore any creature. 3. He requires, that only him- 
self, as the self-existent God, should be worshipped ; and con- 
demns all religious worship of any other, Exod. xx. 2, 3. 
Matth. iv. 10. Deut. vi. 13. x. 20. 1 Sam. vii. 3. Isa. xlii. 8. 
Rom. i. 23. Gal. iv. 8. 4. Though Christ, as God,ke the object 
of religious worship, and though, as Mediator, he is to be re- 
ceived by faith as God's unspeakable gift, — and though his 
mediation be an excitement to worship him as God, as well as 
his Father, and the Holy Spirit in him, yet, as the Son of man 
and the servant of God, he cannot be the object of divine worship, 
unless bis finite nature shared the same honour with his god- 
head, or he have a subordinate and a supreme worship ascribed 
to him, both of which are equally absurd. — Nor is there any 
reason to pretend, that the religious worship called latreia, 
belongs only to God, but that called douleia mav be given 
to creatures; for douleia is ascribed to God, Gal. iv. 8. 
1 Thess. i. 9. Mat. xxvi. 24. Acts xx. 19. Rom. xii. 11. xiv. 
18. Eph. vi. 7-; and civil homage to men is called latreia, 
Deut. xxviii. 48. Lev- xxiii. 7- — In more refined idolatry, we 
believe, choose, trust, love, esteem, desire, delight in, fear, 
think on, sorrow for the want of, — are zealous for, or careful 
to please, or obtain any thing as much or more than the true 
God, or in opposition to his will — In this manner men chiefly 
idolize and worship, 1. Satan, — in entering into covenants with 
him, practising or encouraging divination, witchcraft, or magick, 
consulting him or his agents relative to things future, secret or 
lost, Deut. xvi. 9 — 12. Lev. xix. 31. xx. 6. Exod. xxii. 18. 
Isa. viii. 19. Dan. ii. 2. ; — embracing his false doctrines, 1 Tim. 
iv. 1,2.; regarding his pretended miracles, 2 Thess. ii. 9, 10. 
Rev. xiii. 13. xix. 20. ;— obeying his laws, Jer. vii. 23. Mic. 
vi. 16. Hos. v. 11.; hearkening to his suggestions, Acts v. 
3 — 10. 1 Kings xxii. 22, 23. John xiii. 27. 1 Chron. xxi. 1. ; or 
submitting to his slavery, 2 Cor. iv. 4. 2 Tim. ii. 26. Isa. xlix. 
24, 25. 2. The world,— in seeking the enjoyments of it as the 
portion of our soul, or for themselves, not as they lead to God, 
Psalm xvii. 14. Col. iii. 1, 2. Rom. viii. 5, 6. Phil. iii. 19. 
James iv. 4. 1 John ii. 15, 16. iii. 17. Rev. i. 7.; making the 



462 OF THE LAW OP GOD. 

customs and fashions of it a standard of our f nth or practice, 
Rom. xii. 1, 2. 1 Pet. i. 14, 18.; delighting in the fellowship 
of carnal men, Pal. xv. 4. cxix. 115. Prov. ix. 6. xiii. 20. 
James iv. 4. ; or sinfully pleasing men, Gal. i. 10. Rom. xv. 2. 
1 Cor. ix. 19 — 22. 1 Thess. ii. 4 — 6. 3. Self, natural, civil, or 
religious, — in having too high an esteem of ourselves, Prov. 
xxvi. 12, 16. Isa. lviii. 3. Rom. x. 3.; loving ourselves, not as 
subordinated to God, and for his sake, 2 Tim. iii. 2. Luke xiv. 
26. ; or seeking ourselves too much, or as our great end in any 
thing we do, 2 Kings x. 19. Prov. xxi. 4. xv. 8. Zech. vii. 5,6. 
Phil. ii. 21. iii. 19. 4. Sin, in indulging or practising it in any 
form or degree, as it stands in direct opposition to God, Jer. 
xliv. 4. Hab. i- 12. 1 John iii. 4. ; and its reign or prevalence 
in us renders all that we do a service to and worship of it, 
Isa. i. 11, 12. lxvi. 3. Prov. xv. 8. xxviii. 9. xxi. 4, 27. 
5. Graces and spiritual comforts, in loving, trusting to, desiring, 
and delighting in them for themselves, and instead of God, 

1 John v. 21. 2 Cor. xii. 7. 

The reasons annexed to this commandment are, I. That the 
all-seeing God takes special notice of our atheism, profaneness, 
and idolatry, let them be varnished with as manv fair pretences 
as they will, Psalm xliv. 20, 21. Ezek. viii. 7 — 12. 2. That 
he is much displeased with us for them, particularly for idolatry. 
He has manifested his displeasure in his word, 1 Cor. vi. 9, 
10. Gal. v. 19 — 21. Rev. xxi. 8. xxii. 15. xiv. 10, 11. And 
few nations, heathens, Jews, or antichristians, have or will be 
destroyed in his providence, but on account of idolatry, as one 
principal article of his controversy with them, 2 Kings xvii. 
Jer. xxv. xlvi. — li. Rev. ix. xiii. xiv. He has often taken 
away men's idols, Judg. xvii. xviii.; obliged them either to 
part with them or with their profession of religion, Gen. xxxv. 
2. ; or rendered them a plague to them, as in the case of 
Eli, and David's idolized children, 1 Sam. ii. — iv. 2 Sam. 
xiii. — xviii. 1 Kings i. ; or has left them shamefully to manifest 
their idolatry, as in the case of Judas, Mat. xxvi. 15. ; Demas, 

2 Tim. iv. 10. 

II. The Second Commandment respects the means of reli- 
gious worship. Ourbodies, as well as our souls, being redeemed 
with the blood of God, Acts xx. 28. 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. ; — ever- 
lasting happiness awaiting our bodies as well as our souls, 
1 Cor. xv. Matth. x. 28. ; — our mouth being the interpreter 
and agent of our heart, Matth. xii. 34. ; and external worship 
being of use to promote that which is internal, — God has 
framed this commandment, immediately to respect it, though 
as proceeding from our heart. — This external worship, not 
being strictly natural, but instituted, and God having a distin- 



OF THE LAW OP GOD. 

guished zeal for his own worship, and men a remarkable prone- 
ness to intrude their own inventions into it, this and the fourth 
commandment are more largely stated and enforced than any of 
the rest. 

Our whole worship of God, since the fall, being an abomina- 
tion to him, but in so far as performed in the name of Christ, 
Prov. xv. 8. xxi. 27- xxviii. 9. Isa. lxvi. 3. i. 11 — 15. Col. iii 

17. 1 Pet. iv. 11. Eph. iii. 21. He, the true representation 
and image of the invisible God, may, as Mediator, be consi- 
dered as the principal mean of it, Col. i. 15. 2 Cor. iv. 4, 6. 
John xiv. 6, 9, 10. And it must be performed in obedience 
to his command, — in the exercise of faith in and love to his 
person God-man Mediator, — in reliance upon his strength, — 
and presented to his Father through his righteousness and 
intercession, in order to render it acceptable, John xiv. 6- 
x. 7, 9. Eph. ii. 18. iii. 12. Col. iii. 17. 1 Pet. iv. 11. ii. 5, 9. 
— In subordination to, and in order to extensive improvement 
of Christ, in our worship of, and fellowship with God, he, in 
his word, has appointed many diversified ordinances; particu- 
larly, 1. Prayer, secret, private, and publick, Matth. vi. 6. Jer 
x. 25. .Mai. iii. 16. Acts ii. 46. 2. Singing of psalms, hymns, 
and spiritual songs, in secret, private, and publick, for the praise 
of God, James v. 13. Co!, iii. 16. Eph. v. 19. Psal. xxxiii. 

I, 2. xlvii. xcvi c. ciii. cv. cvii. cxxxiv. — cxxxvi. cxlv.---cl. 

3. Reading and hearing God's word, John v. 39. Acts xvii. 1 1 . 
xv. 21. 4. Preaching and hearing the gospel, 1 Pet. iii. 19 
i. 12. Neh. viii. 8. 2 Kings iv. 23. Mark xvi. 15. 2 Tim. iv. 2. 
Rom. x. 14, 15, 17. 5. Administration and receiving of the 
sacraments, Gen. xvii. 9 — 14. Exod. xii. Num. ix. xxviii 
xxix. 1 Cor. x. 1 — 3. Matth. xxviii. 11. 1 Cor. x. 16, 17. xi. 
23 — 29. 6. Religious fasting and thanksgiving, secret, private, 
and publick, Matth. vi. 17, 18. ix. 15. Zech. xii. 12 — 14. 1 Cor. 
vil. 5. Joel ii. 13. Exod. xv. 1 Chron. xvi. 2 Chron. xx. 26. 
7. Church government and discipline, including a standing mi- 
nistry and the maintainance of it, Exod. xxv. — xxxi. Lev. i.— 
x\ i. Num. iii. iv. viii. xv. xvii. xviii. Heb. iii. 5, 6. Matth. xvi- 

18, 19. xx. 25, 26. xviii. 15—20. 1 Cor. xii. 28. Eph. iv. 
11 — 14. John xviii. 36. Acts i. — xx. 1 Tim. v. 17. 1 Thess. 
v- 12. Heb. xiii. 7, 17. 1 Cor. ix. 14. 8. Catechetical and 
other instruction of children, servants, or p-ople, in the truths 
of God, Gen. xviii. 19. Deut. vi. 6 — 9. Gal. vi. 6. 9. Spi- 
ritual conference and joint prayer in social meetings, stated 

or occasional Mai. iii. 16. Song i. 4. v. 8—16. vil. 1 — 3. vii. 
1 — 3. vii. 13. iv 11. vii. 9. iii. 7 — 11. Psalm lxvi. 16. Luke 
xxiv. 14 — 32. 10. Vows of self-dedication to the service of 
God, personal or social, Isa. xliv. 4, 5. Psalm cxvi. 16. Ixxvi. 

II. cxix. 106. Eccl. v. 4, 5. Num. xxx. Lev. xxvii. Deut. v. 



464 OF THE LAW OF GOD. 

2. xxix. 2. Josh. xxiv. 15, 25. 2 Chron. xv. 12, 13. xxiii. lb 
xxix. 10. xxxiv. 31, 34. Neh. ix. x. Ezra x. 3. Isa. xix. 18, 
21. 2 Cor. viii. 5. 11. Oaths, assertory, promissory, and mi- 
natory, in which we solemnly call God to witness the truth, 
and our sincerity in that which we declare or engage, and to 
avenge himself upon us, if we declare any thing false or un- 
known to us, or neglect to fulfil that which we engage, Deut- 
vi. 13. Jer. iv. 2. Heb. vi. 16. Isa. xlv. 23. lxv. 16. Rom. ix. 
1,2. 2 Cor. i. 23. xi. 31. Gal. i. 20. 1 Thess. v. 27. 12 
Casting of lots, in which we solemnly appeal to the imme- 
diate derision of God in an important matter, in which hu 
man prudence cannot, at least peaceably, determine, Prov. xvi. 
33. xviii. 18. Lev. xvi. 8. Num. xxxiv. 13. Josh. vii. 13 — 18 
xv. — xxi. 1 Sam. x. 19 — 24. xiv. 41, 42. 1 Chron. xxiv. — ■ 
xxvi. Neh. xi. 1. Acts i. 24 — 26. 13. Collection for the 
poor, in which we give a part of our substance to the Lord, 
Matth. vi. 1 — 5. 1" Cor. xvi. 1, 2. Gal. ii. 10. — All which or- 
dinances this commandment requires, 1. To be received in 
principle, and publick profession, — known and assented to as 
divine by our mind, and embraced as appointed of God by 
our will, Mic. iv. 5. 2. To be observed in all their. require- 
ments, as instituted by God, to be means of our fellowship 
with himself, Matth. xxviii. 30. Psalm xxvii. 4. Ixiii. 2. lxxxiv. 
2, 10. 3. To be kept pure from every human addition, 
1 Cor. xi. 2. Psalm xvi. 4. Acts xvii. 16, 17, 22. Deut. vii- 
5. xii. 23. Exod. xxiii. 24. Col. ii. 4, 8, 16 — 23. Matth. xv. 
2, 3, 9. 4. To be kept entire, without suffering any thing 
to be taken from them, Deut. iv. 2. v. 32. xii. 32. Rev. xxii. 
19. 

This commandment forbids, I. Profanen'ess respecting 
the means of religion's worship. 1. In not receiving God's or- 
dinances as his, but as delivered to us by Popes, Councils, 
Kings, Parents, Teachers, Hos. viii. 12. Isa. xxix. 13. 2. In 
neglecting the secret, private, or publick observance of them. 
Exod. iv. 24, 25. Jer. x. 25. Heb. x. 25. Rev. ii. 4. 3. In de- 
volving upon others that observance of them which God requires 
of us, — as when clergymen hold a plurality of charges, and hire 
curates to officiate for them, or heads of families devolve the 
whole religious care of them into the hands of chaplains, 
1 Kings xii. 31. Judg. xvii. 5, 12, 13. 4. In curtailing them, 
in respect of parts, time, or frequency, Amos viii- 4, 5. Mai. 
i. 13. iii. 7 — 9, 14. 5. In contempt of them, disposing us to 
neglect them, or to use them without due reverence, Eccl. v. 
1 Mai. i. 12, 13, 14. 6. In sleepy or careless attendance on 
them, Acts xx. 9. 7. In valuing ourselves on account of our 
contempt of them, Job xxi. 14, 15. 8. In making merchan- 
dize of church-livings, censures, decisions, sacraments, Acts 



OP THE LAW OF GOD. 465 

viii. 18. Rom. ii. 22. John ii. 16. Mark xi. 15— 17. 9. In 
hindering the free observation of God's ordinances by derision T 
immoderate and unseasonable worldly business, intrusion of 
careless and scandalous ministers, establishing or executing ini- 
quitous laws, persecuting men for conscience-sake, Isa. xxviii. 
22. 1 Pet. i ii - 7- 1 Sam. ii. 17. Mic. vi. 16. 2 Kings xviii. 13. 
Acts iv. — xxviii. II. Idolatry respecting the means of wor- 
ship, in, 1. Forming corporeal representations of God in our 
mind, John iv. 24. Rom. i. 23. 2. Forming material repre- 
sentations of the divine persons, in order to worship them, or 
that which they are intended to represent, Acts xvii. 29. 
Rom. i. 23. Deut. iv. 14, 15. Hub. ii. 18. Rom. xi. 4. Lev. 
xxvi. 1. 3. Retaining images of divine persons, or even of 
false god9, for ornaments of houses, &c. Deut. vii. 5. Exod. 
xxiii. 24. Psalm xvi. 4. 4. Exhibiting images in churches 
for the instruction of the ignorant, Exod. xxiii. 24. 2 Kings 

xviii. 4. To pretend their usefulness is to accuse God of 

neglecting to give us sufficient means of instruction in his 
word and ordinances, contrary to Mat. xxviii. 20. Luke xvi. 
29,31, Isa. viii. 20. Such images blasphemously represent 
God, who is an infinite Spirit, as if he were finite and corpo- 
real. They cannot even represent the body of Christ in con- 
nection with his divine person, or in its glorified state, Isa. 
xl. 18. xlvi. 5. Jer. x. 8, 14, 15. Hab. ii. 18. Zech. x. 2. 
God condemns and punishes men for making carnal repre- 
sentations of himself, Rom. i. 23, 24. ; and for their adoration 
of saints, angels, popes, relicks, and images, under pretence of 
worshipping him by them, Acts x. 25, 26. Rev. xix. 10. xxii. 
8, 9. xiii. 4, 8, 15. ix. 20, 21. Nay, for their idolatry, the 
papists are expressly adjudged to eternal damnation, Rev. 
xiv. 9 — 11. III. Superstition, in adding to or changing 
God's ordinances of worship, in, 1. Pretending to render that 
to be sin or duty which God never declared to be so, Mat. xv. 
5,6, 9. Prov. xxx. 6. Col. ii. 16 — 23. 2. Imagining that vir- 
tue in worship arises from places, postures, instruments., or 
number of acts, contrary to Mai. i. 11. John iv. 20 — 22. 3. 
Fancying that the position of stars at the time of birth, the 
meeting or dealing with particular persons first in the morning, 
flight of birds, or the like, are declarative tokens of God's will 
relative to future events, Isa. xliv. 25. xlvii. 8, 13. Jer. x. 2. 
4. Adding to God's worship ceremonies, restricted seasons, 
church-officers, sacraments, apocryphal books, &c. not pre- 
scribed in his word, Deut. xii. 32. iv. 2. v. 32. Isa. i. 12. Mat. 
xv. 3, 9. Col. ii. 16—23. Gal. iv. 10,11 Men render them- 
selves guilty of such superstition and idolatry, 1. In devising 
it, Num. xv. 39. 1 Kings xii. 28 — 33. 2. In advising or en- 
ticing to it, Deut. xiii. 6 — 8. 3. In commanding it, Hos. y, 

3 Q 



466 OF THE LAW OF GOD. 

11. Micahvi. 16. 4. Inusingit, 1 Kings xi. 33. 5. In ap- 
proving or tolerating it, Rev. ii. 14, 15. — Nor will any pretence 
of the piety of its authors or promoters, Macth. xv. 2 — 9. ; 
or its antiquitv, 1 Pet. i. 18.; legal establishment or custom- 
ariness, Jer. xliv. 17.; good intention, 1 Sam.xv. 21. xiii 12. ; 
or its seeming tendency to promote devotion, Isa. lxv. 5, ex- 
cuse their conduct before God. 

The reasons annexed to this commandment for enforcing 
obedience to it, are, 1. God's sovereignty , which entitles him 
alone to prescribe the ordinances of his own worship, Jer. vii. 
31. xxxii. 35. 2. His propriety in his people, as his children, 
servants, and subjects, Isa- xxxiii. 22. 3. His zeal for his own 
worship, in punishing the breakers and rewarding the keepers 
of this and other commandments, Lev. x. 1, 2, 3. Isa. ix. 7. 

III. The Third Commandment respects the name of God, 
which comprehends every thing by which he makes himself 
known. 1. Proper names, — essential, as Jehovah, Jah, I am, 
The Lord, God, Exod. vi. 3. iii. 14. Psalm Ixviii. 4. lxxxiv. 
11. — Or personal, — Father, Son, Word, Jesus Christ, Holy 
Ghost, &c. 2. titles which mark his relations to us-ward, as 
The God and Father of Christ, Eph. i. 3. 1 Pet. i. 3. ; The 
High and lofty One, — The Holy One of Israel, Isa. lvii. 15. 
xlix. 7. ; The God of mercy and grace, and peace, Psalm lix. 
10. 1 Pet. v. 10. Rom. xvi. 20. ; The God of salvation, Psalm 
Ixviii. 20. ; The God of all comfort, 2 Cor. i. 3. ; The God and 
King of Glory, Acts vii. 2. Psalm xxiv. 8, 10.; The God of 
gods, Josh. xxii. 22. : King of kings, and Lord of lords, Rev. 
xvii. 14. xix. 16. ; The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, 
Exod. iii. 6.; The God of the Hebrews, or of Israel, Exod. 
v. 3. Poalm lxxii. 18. ; The God of the whole earth, Isa. liv. 
o. ; The Father of mercies, 2 Cor. i. 3. and of glory, Eph. i. 
17.; of spirits, Heb. xii. 9. Num. xvi. 22.; Creator, Isa. xl. 
28. ; Preserver or Observer of men, Job vii. 20. ; King, Judge, 
Lawgiver, Isa. xxxiii. 22. James iv. 12. ; Saviour, Isa. xlv. 15, 
22.; Redeemer, Isa. xlviii 17. xlix. 26. Jer. 1. 34. Job xix. 
25. ; Comforter, Isa. Ii. 7, 12. John xv. 26. 2 Cor. i. 4. vii. 6. 

3. Attributes imitable and inimitable, Infinity, Eternitv, &c. 

4. Ordinances of worship, Mic. iv. 5. Luke i. 6. 5. Words, 
Law and Gospel, Psalm cxxxviii. 2. 6. Works of creation, 
providence, and redemption, Psalm xix. 1. ix. 16. Acts xiv. 17. 
Eph. iii. 10, 21. 2 Cor. v. 18—21. 

This commandment requires us, I. To take up the name 
of God, as it is laid before us in his word, — in our thoughts, 
rnedilating on it, Psalm civ. 34. cxxxix. 17, 18.; — in our words, 
speaking of it, P^aim cv. 1 — 3. cvii. cxxxvi. cxlv. cxlvi. cxlvii.; 
— and in our deeds, making an open profession cf it, adorned 



OF THE LAW OF GOD. 467 

with an answerable practice, 1 Pet. iii. 15, 16. Rom. x. 10. 
Rev. xiv. 1. Heb. iv 14. x. 23. Mutth. v. 16. Phil. ii. 15, 16. 
iv. 8 Phis taking up of God's name is necessary to his ho- 
nour ; and without it we hide, bury, and deny the excellency 
and usefulness of his name, 1 Cor. x. 31. Lev. X. 3. ; — neces- 
sary to our own advantage, his names, titles, and attributes 
being precious, reviving, sanctifying, and comforting cordials 
to our soul, — his ordinances breasts of spiritual nourishment, 
— his words sweeter than honey, an inheritance better than 
thousands of gold and silver, an incomparable instructer, Song 
viii. 6. Psalm xix. 10. cxix. 72, 103, 111, 97—100, 105.; — his 
works a prospective glass, manifesting wonders of wisdom, 
power, mercy, and goodness, Rom. i. 19, 20. Psalm xix. 1 — 5. 
ciii — cvii. exxxvi. cxlv. — clvii. xcii. 4. Eph. i. 3 — 10. ii. 4 — 
10. ; and necessary to the edification of others, leading them 
to Christ, salvation, and holiness, Mat. v. 16. John xvii. 26. 

And for gaining these important ends, our profession of 

God's name ought to be judicious, every point of it knowingly 
founded on his word, Rom. x. 10. Prov. iv. 5 — 7- Acts xvii. 
11. ; candid, perfectly answerable to that which we believe in 
our heart, Rom. x. 10. Psalm cxvi. 10. 2 Cor. iv. 13. ; com- 
plete, extending to every attained truth, Phil. iii. 16. Acts xx- 
20, 27-; plain, without ambiguity or equivocation, Gal. ii. 11, 
12. v. 1 — 4. 2 Cor. i. 12. ; meek, 1 Pet. iii. 15, Matth. xi. 29. 
2 Tim. ii. 24, 25. ; bold and zealous, Psalm cxix. 46, 139. Acts 
ii. 14—36. iii. 12—26. iv. 10—13, 19,20. v. 29, 32. vi. 15. 
vii. 51 — 53. Eph. vi. 20. ; constant to the end, 1 Pet. iii. 15. 
2 Pet. iii 17, 18. Rev. ii. 10. iii. 11. II. It requires us to 
use the name of God in a holy and reverent manner, in spi- 
ritual knowledge of it, Psalm ix. 10. ; faith in it as manifested 
in Christ, Heb. xi. 6. iv. 2. Rom. xiv. 23. ; ardent love to it, 
Psalm lxix. 36. Isa. xxvi. 8. ; kindly fear and awe of it, Mai. 
iv. 2. Deut xxviii. 58. Psalm lxxxix. 7- Rev. xv. 4.; in sin- 
gleness of heart, and to a right end, Psalm xcvi. 7, 8. III. 
To employ God himself to hallow or glorify his own name, in 
removing from the world and our heart all that atheism, igno- 
rance, idolatry, profaneness, &c. which tends to dishonour his 
name, and in disposing all things in nations, churches, and 
persons, to promote his glory to the best advantage, Mat. vi. 
9. Psal. cviii. 5. lxxxii. 8. lvii. 5, 11. lxxii. 19. 

This commandment forbids our neglecting to promote God's 
honour in the matter and manner required, Deut. xxxii. 51. 
Num. xxvii. 14. ; and our profaning and abusing his name in 
using it ignorantlv, Acts xvii. 23. ; lightly or rashly, in excla- 
mations, thanksgivings, prayers, obsecrations, adjurations, and 
appeals, Acts xix. 13, 14. ; supersticiously, as when the Israel- 
ites carried his ark to the field of battle to render them success- 



46g OF THE LAW OF GOD. 

ful against the Philistines, 1 Sam. iv. 3 — 5. ; wantonly, in swear- 
ing by him, or creatures in his stead, in our common conversa- 
tion, Mat. v. 34 — 37. James v. 12.; in angrily or sportfully- 
cursing and devoting ourselves or others to damnation, de- 
vils, mischiefs, &c. 1 Kings xix. 2. 2 Kings vi. 31. Num. xxii. 

11. Judg. xvii. 2. ; — perjuring ourselves, attesting that which 
is false, and not endeavouring to perform that which we have 
engaged upon oath, Zech. v. 4- Mai. iii. 5. Mat. v. 33. Hos. 
iv. 2. x. 4. ; — blasphemously reviling God, or causing others 
to do so, Rom. ii. 24. Actsxxvi. 11.1 Tim. vi. 1. 2 Sam. xii. 
14. Isa. Ii. 5. ; reproaching his ordinances, words, works, or 
people, because of their relation and likeness to him, 1 Tim. vi. 
1. Tit. ii. 5. 1 Cor. iv. 13. Mark iii. 30. ; ascribing to him that 
which is dishonourable to him. Mat. xi. 19. xii. 24. John viii. 
48, 52. Psalm 1. 21. X. 13. ; denyinghim that which is trueand 
honourable, and ascribing it to creatures, Job xxxvi. 19 — 25. 
Psalm Ixxiii. 9. xciv. 7. Eztk. viii. 12. ix. 9. Zeph. i. 12. Acts 
xii. 22. ; thinking or speaking against him in a virulent manner, 
Job. ii. 5, 9. Exod . v. 2. 2 Kings vi. 33. vii. zA9- ; and despite- 
fully or maliciously rebelling against the plain and powerful 
testimonies of hi> Spirit to our conscience, Mat. xii. 23. 24, 31, 
32. Heb. vi. 4, 5. X. 26—29. But, 

More particularly, God's names, titles, and attributes, are pro- 
faned and abused, when they are not thought and spoken of, 
and improved by inward principles of faith in, and love to Christ, 
Rom. xiv. 23. Heb. xi. 6. 1 Tim. i. 5.; when our inward unbe- 
lief works in opposition to them, 2 Kings vii. 2, 19. Ezik. viii. 

12. ix. 9. Zeph. i. 12. Psalm x- 11, 13. 1. 21. lxxvii. 8.9. xciv. 
7- Jer. xv. 18. xx. 7- ; when we retain or exercise hatred ot them, 
Rom. viii. 7, 8. i. 30- Psalm exxxix. 20. ; and when we use them 
not to their proper ends, but as encouragements to wickedness, 
Mai. i. 6. Eccl. viii. 11. Isa. xliii. 24. Rom. ii. 4, 5. — His ordi- 
nances are profaned and abused when they are used with unholy 
hearts, from principles of self-love, pride, regard to human laws 
or customs, 1 Tim. i. 5. 1 Cor. xii. 3. ; or in a proud, careless, 
hypocritical, unbelieving manner, Phil. iii. 3. John iv. 24- Isa. 
lviii. 3. xxix. 13. Heb. iv. 2.; or to promote some sinful or sel- 
fish end, Mat. ii. 16. xxiii. 14. Rom. x. 3. ix. 31, 32. — Prayer 
is profaned and abused when we do not duly prepare for it by 
searching and feelingour necessities.empt\ ing our hearts of carnal 
cares, and by consideration of Christ's mediation and promises, 
Psalm x. 17. Eph. vi. IS.; when we pray in an ignorant, pioud, 
formal, legal, careless, wandering, and unbelieving manner, Isa. 
xxix. 13. Lukexviii.il, 12. James i. 6 — 8. John xvi. 24.; when 

ask improper things, or for a bad end, Luke ix. 54. James 
iv. 3.'; and when we do not observe xvhether and hoxv ourrequests 
are granted, Psalm v. 3. exxiii. 1-— 4.— Singing of psalms is 



OF THE LAW OF GOD. *$? 

profaned when it is performed rashly, Psalm cviii. 1. ; merely in 
an outward manner, Psalm cxi. 1.; without knowledge of what 
we sing, 1 Cor. xiv. 15. ; without proper affection or proper ap- 
plication of the matterto our own case, Eph. v. 19. Col. iii. 16- 
Reading or hearing of God's word, is profaned and abused 
when it is performed without due preparation, 1 Pet. ii. 1, 2. 
Jam. i. 21.; without proper attention, Ezek. xxxiii. 30. Prov. 
xxviii. 9. Acts viii. 30. ; or in a sleepy and indolent manner, 
Amos viii. 5. Mai. i. 13. ; when our consciences are not laid 
open to it as the candle of the Lord, and we do not receive it 
into our heart as indeed the word of God, Psalm lxxxv. 8. 
1 Thess. ii. 13. 2 Thess. ii. 10, 11. ; when we do not cordiaily 
believe, nor are sensibly affected with it, Heb.iv.2. Isa.lxvi.2.; 
when we do not spiritually meditate on, and carefully remem- 
ber that which we have read and heard, Psalm i. 2. x. 4. Psalm 
cxix. 11. ; and reduce into an holy and circumspect practice, 
Ezek. xxxiii. 3 1 . Jer. xxv. 4 — 7. ; or when we regard the truths 
of God as we affect the preacher, Ezek. xxxiii. 32. I Kings 
xxii 8. — Preaching of God's word is profaned when perform- 
ed bv those whom God never called to. that work, Jer. xxiii. 32. 
Rom. x. 15. Heb. v. 4. ; or in an unbelieving, lazv, unaffec- 
tionate, obscure, indistinct, contentious, and unfaithful manner, 
Isa. lvi.10, 12. Rom.xvi.ir. 18. Phil.i. 16. Ezek.xiii.17 — 19.; 
or to exalt self, and promote carnal gain, 2 Cor. iv. 5. 1 Thess. 
ii. 4—6. — Sacraments are profaned when they are dispensed 
by persons not authorised by God, 1 Cor. iv. 1,2. xi. 23. ; or to 
improper persons, or from carnal motives, Mat. vii. 6. 1 Cor. 
xi. 27 — 29.; when rites not prescribed by God are annexed to 
them, Isa. i. 12. ; when they are received without due prepara- 
tion for them, proper exercise of grace in them, and a corres- 
pondentpractice after them, 1 Cor. xi. 27,29. Actsiv. 13. Rom. 
xii. 1,2. — Religious fasting is profaned when we fast for strife 
and debate, or to promote some bad end, Isa. lviii. 4. 2 Kings 
xxi. 9 — 13.; without being truly and deeply affected with the 
mercies which we acknowledge, and with the sins which we con- 
fess, or judgments which we bewail and deprecate, Hos. vii. 14. 
Isa. lviii. 4.; when wecieave to our sins, while we profess to mourn 
over, and supplicate deliverance from them and their effects, Isa. 
lviii. 4 — 6. Mic.iii. 11. ; or when we seek to honour ourselves,and 
recommend ourselves to God's favour by it, Mat. vi. 16. Zech. 
vii. 5. Luke xviii. 12. Isa. lviii. 3. — Church-government is 
profaned when it is modelled according to the forms of the state, 
John xviii. 36. Mat. xx. 25, 26.; and its affairs regulated, not 
by the word of God, but by the decrees of councils, parliaments, 
popes, kings, &c. Isa. viii. 20. Mat. xxiii. 8 — 10. Mic. vi. 16. 
Rev. xiii. ; or to please the humours of men, chiefly the great, 
Gal. i. 10. 1 Thess. ii. 4, 5. ; or when censures are inflicted as 



4*0 OP THE LAW OF GOD. 

civil punishments, or are despised and opposed, or not submit- 
ted to as the institutions of Jesus Christ for promoting spiritual 
edification, Actsxv. 1 Cor. v. 5- 1 Thesss. v. 12 — 14. 2Thess. 
iii. 6,14. Heb.xiii. 7,17. — Religious vows are profaned when 
we vow in a rash, ignorant, careless, legal, and hypocritical 
manner, Judg. xi. 30—40. Deut. v. 27 — 29. Jer. xlii.5,20.; or 
engage to that which is sinful, trifling, or not in our power to 
perform, 2 Kings vi. 31. 1 Kings xix. 2. ; when we are proud 
of our vows, John viii. 41. Prov. vii. 14. ; and when, after law- 
ful vows, we do not speedily, and with the utmost care and di- 
ligence, fulfil them, Num. xxx. Judg. xi. 35. Psalm lxi. 8. 

Ixxviii. 8,57- Eccl.v.4 — 6. Prov. xx. 25 Oaths areprofaned 

when we refuse to swear lawful ones, which tend to glorify God, 
and put an end to strife, Heb. vi. 16. Deut. vi. 13. x. 20. ; when 
we swear without a proper call, James v. 12. Mat. v. 34 — 37. ;or 
give or take oaths which are unlawful or dubious in themselves, 
or impossible for us to fulfil, Mark vi. 22, 23. Acts xxiii. 14, 
21. ; or swear in an idolatrous or superstitious manner by crea- 
tures, kissing the gospels, &c. Psalm xvi.4. Mat. xv. 9. ; when 
we swear without truth, what we are uncertain of, or know to be 
false, or with dissimulation ; without judgment, not understand- 
ing the nature of an oath, or the matter about which, or words 
in which we take it ; or without righteousness, engaging to, or 
intending to promote that which is unlawful and unjust, Jer. 
iv. 2. Zech. v. 4. ; or swear lightly and rashly, Eccl. ix. 2. ; or 
when we equivocate in swearing, understanding our expressions 
in a sense different from that commonly affixed to them, or 
which is unperceived by the irnposer ; or, when our swearing 
does not tend to the honour of God or edification of men, but 
is merely a compliance with some human law, and intended as 
a mean of access to some place of civil or ecclesiastical honour 
and profit ; and when the impression of our oath wears off our 
spirits, and through sloth, inadvertency, wickedness, or specious 
pretences, we do not labour to perform our oaths, Josh. ix. 18, 
19. 2 Sam. xxi. 1. 2 Chron. xxxvi. 19. Ezek. xvii. 12 — 19.; 
when we pretend the obligation of an oath as a reason of our 
doing that which is sinful, Mat. xiv. 9. ; or when, without suf- 
ficient new ground, we repeat our oaths at, or near the same 
time, Exod. xx. 7. — Lots are profaned when they are used in 
affairs trifling, or which human prudence might have rightly 
and peacefully decided, Psalm xxii. 18. ; or in important mat- 
ters, without earnest praver and dependence on God for his de- 
cision, Prov. xvi. 33. x'viii. 18. Acts i. 24—26. ; or to obtain 
knowledge of future events, Deut. xxix. 29. ; to which heathen- 
ish observation of accidents, as ominous, maybe reduced, Jer. x. 
2. Isa. xliv. 25.; or in division of cards, or throwing of the dice, 
&c.—-the sinfulness of which is manifest. It is the common de- 



OF THE LAW OF GOD. 471 

light of wicked men, whose hearts are filled with enmity against 
God. It never fits men for religious exercises, but, in a most 
bewitching manner, diverts from them. It occasions intimate 
familiarity with graceless persons, few others being inclined to 
such diversions. As luck or chance, being mere imaginations, can 
give no decision, the appeal for division of cards or fall of the 
dice must be made either to God, or to the devil in his stead. 
To appeal to God in diversion, how presumptuous and blasphe- 
mous ! To appeal to the devil in his stead, how horrid ! — It ren- 
ders men heathenish, — believers of heathenish principles, as that 
God has left some events to chance ; that fortune changes sides ; 
that some persons are lucky and others not ; — users of heathenish 
language, luck, chance , good fortune, &c. influenced by heathenish 
affections, hoping, rejoicing, fearing, or grieving at what fortune 
has done, or is like to do ; — and given to heathenish practices, 
irreverently disregarding God and his providence in the ma- 
nagement of their affairs, 1 Sam. vi. 9- — A profession of reli- 
gion is profaned by indulging malignity and hatred of religion, 
Zcch. xi. 8. ; — by scoffing at it, Isa. xxviii. 22. Psalm i. 1. 
2 Kings ii. 23. Psalm xxii. 7, 8. lxix. 10 — 12.; by hypocritical 
pretences to it, 2 Tim. iii. 5. Tit. i. 16. Isa. xxxiii. 14. ; by mak- 
ing a profession of religion a cloak for maliciousness, voluptu- 
ousness, covetousness, or the like, Mat. xxiii. 14. Ezek. xxxiii. 
31, 32. Mic iii. 11. 1 Pet. ii. 16. Tit. i. 15, 16. 1 Thess. ii. 5.; 
by being ashamed of our profession of Christ's truths, Mark 
viii. 38. ; or a reproach to it, in our foolish, untender, unstable, 
unfruitful, or scandalous practice, Phil. iii. 18, 11, 19. 2 Tim. 
iii. 1 — 6. Phil. i. 27. Eph. v. 15. Col. iv. 5. Isa. v. 4. Rom. ii. 
4, 5, 22, 25. ; or by apostacy from it, John vi. 66. Gal. iii. 3 . 
i. 6. 1 Tim. i. 19, 20. 2 Tim. iv. 10. ii. 16, 17. i. 15. 2 Pet. ii. 
20 — 22. 1 John ii. 19. — God's word is profaned when we speak 
lightly of it, insolently against it, or pervert it to jests and by- 
words, Acts xvii. 18, 20. xxvi. 24. ii. 13. Jer. xxiii. 33, 36. ; 
wrest it to support errour and wickedness, 2 Pet. iii. 16. 1 Tim. 
vi. 4. 2 Ti>n. ii. 14. ; affix our own fancies to it as the meaning 
of God's Spirit in it, 2 Pet. i. 20. Mat. v. 21, 33, 43. ; misapply 
it for encouragement of the wicked, and discouragement of the 
godly, Ezek. xiii. 22. ; or use it in charms, idolatrous kissing, 
or as a lottery book for spiritual cases, Acts xix. 13. ; or neglect 
to search and believe and practise it as indeed the word of God, 
John v. 39. 1 Thess. ii. 13. — God's works are profaned when 
we do not discern, love, and admire himself as manifested in 
them, Rom. i. 18 — 20. Eph. iii. 10, 21. ; when we do not im- 
prove them for his glory, but for the gratification of our selfish 
or sinful lusts, 1 Pet. iv. 11. Hos. xiii. 6. Deut. xxxii. 14, 15. 
Rom. ii. 4. 5. xiii. 12 — 14. Jude 4. 1 Pet. ii. 8. ; or when we 
murmur against, or harden our hearts under them, 2 Cor. x. 10, 



4/2 OF THE LAW OF GOD. 

Judc 16. Jer. v. 3. Isa. i. 5. 2 Chron. xxviii. 22. Zech. vii. lx 
Jer. xxv. 4 — 7. 

The profanation of God's name much abounds, because, 
1. Men have so low thoughts of him, that they never discern 
the high regard which is due to his name, Exod. v. 2. Psalm 1* 
21. 2. Much abuse of his name being little discerned by un- 
regenerate men, hardens their heart into mere profaneness, 
Psalm xxxvi. 1, 2. Zech. vii. 5, 6. 3. Sinful customs make 
multitudes look on many instances and forms of profaning it 
as lawful, Matth. v. 37. 4. No laws either of church or state 
can reach many forms of profanine it, Eccl. viii. 11. 1 Sam. 
xvi. 7. 5. Many ministers and magistrates have so little 
knowledge of, or regard to the name of God, that they scarcely 
think the most gross and publick profanation of it a fault ; and 
the laws which the) make against it are but a mere farce, 
being never executed. 6. By the example of ministers and 
magistrates; — by the imposition of sinful, unnecessary, obscure 
and dubious oaths ; by taking oaths at elections, or in pleas, in 
so careless and irreverent a manner, the profaration <5f God's 
name is mightily encouraged and promoted. — But he will 
not suffer it to escape his righteous and most dreadful judg- 
ment; for, 1. This sin is committed in direct opposition to his 
nature and will, Psalm lxxiii. 8, 9. 2. It manifests a most 
outrageous hatred of him, Psalm exxxix. 20. 3. It is contrarv 
to the whole tendency of divine revelation, which is to promote 
an holy fear and awe of him, Prov. i. 7. Psalm cxi. 9, 16 
2 Tim. iii. 15 — 17. 

IV. The Fourth Commandment prescribes the proper time 
of God's worship. The piecise quantity and part of time 
proper for the stated and social worship of God depending on 
his tnerezvill, this command is introduced with a solemn charge 
to remember to observe it, and is both positively and negatively 
expressed, and enforced with manifold reasons. The law of 
nature teaches, that men having bodies as well as souls, and 
being social creatures, they ought to worship God in an external 
and social manner ; but does not determine what proportion or 
precise part of time ought to be observed in that stated and 
solemn worship. But the seventh part of our time being ap- 
pointed by God for that purpose, his command is universally 
and perpetually binding or moral. 1. This command con- 
cerning the sabbath was imposed upon man in paradise before 
any typical ceremonies. Nor is there any more appearance of 
Moses mentioning the sabbath, Gen. ii. 1, 2. than of his men- 
tioning the creation of the world, by an anticipation of 2500 
years before it took place. 2. The appointment of the sabbath 
is inserted in the very middle of that moral law which Gad 



OF THE LAW OF GOD. 473 

solemnly published from mount Sinai, and wrote upon two 
tables of stone, which was not the case with any ceremonial 
institution, Exod. :;x. 8 — 11. xix. 20. xxiv. 12. xxxiv. 28. 
3. Every reason annexed to this commandment, when thus 
published and written, is of a moral nature, forcible on all 
men in every age and place ; and hence strangers, as well as 
Israelites, were obliged to observe the weekly sabbath, Exod. 
xx. 9, 10, 11. 

Immediately after the creation of the world, God appointed 
the seventh day of the week for the weekly sabbath. 1. Nothing 
can be more plain and express than Moses' declaration on this 
head, that God, having finished his work of creation in six 
days, rested on the seventh, and sanctified it to be a sabbath to 
himself, Gen. ii. 1, 2. 2. All the reasons annexed to this com- 
mand were as forcible immediately after the creation, as ever, 
Exod. xx. 10, 11. 3. The sabbath was observed before the 
giving of the law at Sinai, as a thing which the Israelites well 
knew to be already appointed, Exod. xvi. 23. 4. In Heb. iv. 
3 — 10, three distinct sabbaths are mentioned, one which com- 
menced from the foundation of the world, which can be no 
other than that of the seventh day : — another which com- 
menced from the Israelites' entrance into Canaan, when their 
ceremonial sabbaths received their full force; and a third in 
commemoration of Christ's resurrection and entrance into his 
glorious rest.— Nay, ancient heathens take notice of the division 
of time into weeks, and of the seventh day, which it cannot be 
supposed they learned from the contemned Jews, who were 
then scarcely known at any great distance from Canaan. ■ ■ 
There is no reason to wonder that the observation of the sab- 
bath from Adam to Moses is not mentioned in a history which 
dispatches the events of 2500 years in a few pages, especially 
as it is not common for historians to mention ordinary and 
stated observances, except at the beginning of them." In a 
much more extensive history of about 480 years, there is no 
mention made of the weekly sabbath from the second year of 
the Israelites' travels in the wilderness till ihe days of David. 
Nor have we one instance of a child circumcised on the eighth 
day from Isaac to John Baptist.— God's giving his sabbath to 
the Israelites for a sign, only means, that the law of it was- 
solemnly published and given to them, and a typical significa- 
tion added to its original moral use, Ezek. xx. 12. Neh. ix. 14. 
Exod. xxxi. 17. 

Nevertheless God's appointment of the sabbath on the seventh 
day of the week was not strictly moral, but alterable- by him. 
1. Abstracting from his appointment, it is merely circumstan- 
tial whether it be on the seventh day or not. 2. It is not said- 
m this commandment, that God blessed the seventh dav, but 

3 R 



474 OF THE LAW OF GOD. 

that he blessed and sanctified the sabbath day, Exod. xx. 11. 
3. The sabbath being made for man, not man for the sabbath, 
the day of it must be altered, if for the greater good of man- 
kind, Mark ii. 27, 28. 4. Though the fixing it at first on the 
seventh, to commemorate the finished work of creation, was ex- 
ceedingly proper, a greater event happening on another day, 
natively rendered it proper to change it to that day. 5. The 
seventh day sabbath having had a typical signification super- 
added to it, very properly fell into disuse with the other typical 
ceremonies, Exod. xxxi. 13, 17. Ezek. xx. 12. 20. Col. ii. 16, 
17. The change ot the sabbath from the seventh day of the 
week, on which Christ rose from the dead, is exceedingly 
proper. 1. Christ being Lord of the sabbath, it is proper 
that, in consequence of his resurrection, he should manifest his 
dominion with respect to it, Mark ii. 28. 2. His resurrection, 
being his entrance into rest from his finished work of redemp- 
tion, more deserved to be commemorated than God's finishing 
of creation work did, Eph. i. 19, 20, 21. Rom. i. 3, 4. iv. 25. 
1 Cor. xv. 20. Col. i. 18. Rev. i. 5. 3. It was proper that the 
peculiar time, as well as the nature of Christian worship, should 
directly relate to his finishing the purchase of our redemp- 
tion. It was not proper that the day of his birth should be 
commemorated in the sabbath, as on it he entered on his labour 
and suffering ; nor the day of his death, as on that he was in 
the heat of his conflicts ; nor the day of his ascension, as on 
that he did not enter, but proceeded into his rest. 4. It was 
proper that when the covenant of grace was clearly mani- 
fested, men's religious rest should, according to the tenour cf 
that covenant, precede their labour, Luke i. 74, 75. ; even as 
the order of labour and of rest on the seventh day sabbath, 
had corresponded with the order of duty and privilege in the 
covenant of works, Gal. iii. 12. Matth. xix. 17. 

God changed the weekly sabbath from the seventh to the firs! 
day of the week, at the resurrection of Christ. 1. God fore- 
told that the first day of the week should be the Christian Sab- 
bath, Ezek. xliii. 27. Psalm cxviii. 24. 2. This day is ex- 
pressly called the Lord's day. Now, except his healing of per- 
sons on the Jewish sabbath, no day of the week is ever ascribed 
to any of his acts, or events which befel him, but to his resur- 
rection : nor is there anv reason why that should be called his 
day, unless he had peculiarly sanctified and set it apart for his 
publick worship, Rev. i. 10. 3. Christ marked his peculiar claim 
to that day by repeated visits to his disciples, and by the mira- 
culous out-pouring of his Spirit on it, John xx. 19,26. Acts ii. 
Lev. xxiii. 16. Num. xxviii. 2G. 4. His apostles, who were 
instructed by him in all things relative to the New Testament 
church, and who had his Spirit to guide them, into all truth, 



OF THE LAW OF GOD. 47J 

observed the first day of £ e week as the Christian Sabbath. 
On that day they assembled the Christians to break bread in the 
Lord's Supper. After tarrying seven days at Troas, Paul 
preached on the first day of the week, and dispensed the Lord's 
Supper, and continued till midnight. Acts xx. 7. On that day 
they required Christians to lav up their collections for the poor, 
1 Cor. xvi. 2. xi. 2, 23.— The apostles frequently preached up- 
on the Jewish sabbath, not because they observed it, but be- 
cause they then found the Jews assembled in their synagogues, 
Acts xiii. &c. 
The Christian Sabbath begins in the morning after midnight. 

1. Christ rose e&rjy in the morning, Mat. xxviii. 1. Mark xvi. 

2, 9. 2. It begins where the Jewish sabbath ended, which was 
when it began to tfazvn towards the first day of the week, Mat. 
xxviii. 1, 3. 3l The evening which follows the day of our 
sabbath pertained to it, John xx. 19. 

Men cannot, without sin, appoint any holy days. 1. God has 
marked the weekly sabbath with peculiar honour, in his com- 
mand and word. But if men appoint holy days, they detract 
from its honour: And wherever holy days of men's appoint- 
ment are much observed, God's weekly sabbath is much pro- 
faned, Exod. xx. 8. Ezek. xiiii. 8. 2. God never could have 
abolished his own ceremonial holy days, in order that men 
might appoint others of their own invention in their room, 
Col. ii. 16 — 23. Gal. iv. 10, 11. 3. God alone can bless holy 
days, and rencrer them effectual to promote holy purposes ; and 
we have no hint in his word, that he will bless any appointed 
by men, Exod. xx. 11. 4. By permitting, if not requiring us 
to labour six days of the week in our worldly employments, 
this commandment excludes all holy days of men's appointment, 
Exod. xx. 8, 9. If it permit six days for our worldly labour, 
we ought to stand fast in that liberty with which Christ hath 
made us free, Gal. v. i. 1 Cor. vii. 23. Mat. xv. 9. If it require 
them, we ought to obey God rather than men, Acts iv. 19. v. 
29. Days of occasional fasting and thanksgiving are gene- 
rally marked out by the providence of God : And the observa- 
tion of* them does not suppose any holiness in the day itself, 
Joel i. 14. ii. 15. Acts xiii. 2. xiv. 23. Mat. ix. 15. 

The weekly sabbath is to be sanctified, 1. By an holy 
resting from all such worldly works as are lawful on other days, 
whether servile, ploughing,sowing, reaping,— civil, as buying and 
selling,-— liberal, studying of sciences, — or social, pleasures and 
recreations, Exod. xx. 9. Isa. lviii. 13. Neh. viii. 1 Cor. vii. 5. 
And our rest ought to be attended with much spirituality of 
mind and delight in God, Rev. i. 10. Isa. lviii. 13. 2. The 
whole day, except so much as is necessary for works of neces- 
sity and mercy, is to be spent in the publick and private exercisea 



476 OF THE LAW OF GOO. 

of God's worship, Rev. i. 10. Luke xxiii. 54. Psalm xcii. Mark 
i. 35 — 39. Acts ii. 42. xiii. 14, 15, 44. xvi. 13. xx. 7. xvii. 11. 
Luke xxiv. 14, 17 — And it is profaned, 1. By omitting the 
duties required in whole or in part, — not duly remembering it 
before it come, — omitting the publick, private, or secret duties 
of God's worship on it, or even the works of necessity and 
mercy, such as visiting and healing the sick, relieving the poor, 
feeding cattle, and the like, N-n. viii. 12. Mark iii. 3 — 5 Luke 
xiii. 16. xiv. 1 — <t. Mat. xii. 7 — 12. 2. By a superficial, car- 
nal, heartless, wearisome performance of the duties required, 
Mjt. xv. 7. Amos viii. 5. Mai. i. 13. 3. By unnecessary sleep, 
idle talk, vain gadding, slothful rest, Mat. xx. 6. 4. By doing 
that which is in itself sinful, thrusting wickedness into the place 
of worship, Jer. xliv. 4. Zech. xi. 8. Ezek. xx. 21. xxii. 26. 
5. By unnecessary thoughts, words, or works about worldly 
employments and recreations, Isa. lviii. 13. Amos viii. 5. 
Exod/xvi. 23— ^30. .Num. xv. 22—36. Mat. xxiv. 20. Neh. 
xiii. 16, 17. 

The reasons annexed for enforcing obedience to this com- 
mandment are, 1. That God, the original proprietor of all our 
time, has allowed us enough for our worldly employments, 
even six days in seven; which are sufficient for our earthly 
business, and to tire us of it, and raise our appetite for the spi- 
ritual rest of the sabbath, Exod. xx. 9. xxxi. 15. 2. That the 
Lord our God has ch .llenged a special propriety in the seventh, 
and so it must be sacrilegious, ungrateful, andWelf ruining to 
rob him of it, Exod. xx. 10. xxxi. 15. Deut. v. 14. 3. God's 
own example, which is most honourable and binding; and so 
we cannot profane the sabbath without pouring contempt on 
his example, as unworthy of imitation, and on his works of 
creation and redemption as unworthy of remembrance, Exod. 
xx. 11. xxxi. 17. 4. God's blessing the sabbath day, in sepa- 
rating it, with peculiar honour, for his publick worship, and for 
bestowing spiritual benefits on his people, aiad even promoting 
their temporal happiness ; and so we cannot, without disregard- 
ing God's honour, and our own true happiness in time and eter- 
nity, neglect to observe and sanctify it, Exod. xx. 11. Isa. lvi. 
2, 4—7. Lev. xxv. 20, 22. 

V. The Fifth Commandment,. prescribing relative duties, 
comprehends very much practical religion, and is, in so i ar, the 
foundation of the five following ones, which are all obeyed in 
the same proportion as this is. To manifest his own sove- 
reignty,— to beautify this world, and maintain some order 
amidst its present corruptions, God has placed men in the dif- 
ferent stations of superiours, inferiours, or equals, one to another; 
and to mark with what tender affection relative duties ought to 



OF THE LAW OF GOD. 47? 

"be performed, not only natural parents, but husbands, masters, 
ministers, and magistrates, and other superiours in dignity, age, 
gifts, or grace, are nam^d fathers and mothers; and wives, ser- 
vants^ ople, subjects; and all inferiours are represented as chil- 
dren. The most exact performance of duties answerable to 

ali tlu-se relations is necessary, 1. To fulfil God's commands, 
Exod. xx. 12. Eph. iv. — vi. Col. iii. iv. Tit. ii. iii. Rom. 
xii — xv. 1 Thess. ii. — v. 1 Pet. ii. iii. 2. To manifest us 
Christians indeed, Eph. iv. 24, 25. 2 Pet. i. 7, 9. 3 As a part 
of our conformity to Jesus Christ, 1 John ii. 6, 20. Eph. v. 25. 
JLuke ii. 51. 4. To honour God and his religion, 1 Tim. vi. 1. 
Tit. ii. 10. Mat. v. 16, 17, 27. xxii. 16—21. Gar. v. 22, 24. 
xviii. 17, 19. 1 Pet. iii. 6, 16. 5. To gain others to Christ, 
shewing them a good example, while we do them much service, 
1 Pet. iii. 1, 2. 1 Cor. vii. 16. 1 Tim. iv. 12. Phil. ii. 15, 16. 
Mat. v. 16. 6. To prevent our own shame, promote our per- 
sonal holiness, render our relations a blessing and an honour to 
us, and stir them up to pray to, and praise God for us, Psalm 
cxix. 6. Heb. xii. 14. Job xxxi. 17 — 20. Gal. vi. 10. Ruth 
iii. 1. Jer. xxxv. 4. 2 Cor. ix. 11 — 14. Job xxix. 13. 

The duties of Parents to their children are, 1. Careful pre- 
servation of them in the womb, Judg. xiii. 14. 2. Fervent 
praver for them as soon as they have life, Gen. xxv. 21, 22. 
1 Sam. i. 11. ; and afterward, particularly when they are in 
danger of sin or death, Job i. 5. 2 Sam. xii. 15, 16. Psalm xxii. 
10. 3. Earnest care to have them born within the covenant of 
grace, solemnly and frequently taking hold of it for themselves 
and their seed, Isa. xliv. 3. Gen. xvii. 7 — 9. 4. Thankfully 
to bless God for them, Luke i. 67- Psalm cxxvii. 3 — 5. cxxviii. 
3. 5. After much solemn surrendering them in secret, publickly 
dedicating them to God in the initiating seal of his covenant, 
Exod. iv. 24. Luke i. 59. 6. Tender affection and care for 
them, particularly in their infancy and childhood, Isa. xlix. 15. 
Hos. ix. 14. 7- Providing proper food and raiment for them, 
1 Tim. v. 8. 2 Cor. xii. 14. Eccl. ii. 18,19. 8. Educating 
them in good manners, Prov. xxxi. 28. 1 Pet. iii. 8. ; school 
learning, 2 Tim. iii. 14. ; and some useful business, Gen. iv. 2. 
Ruth iii. 11. Prov. xxii. 29. 9. Instructing them in the know- 
ledge of God's revealed truths, encouraging them to inquire 
concerning spiritual things, and frequently putting them in 
mind of their baptismal vows, 1 Kings xviii. 12. Prov. ii. iii. 
iv. vi. vii. xxxi. 2 Tim. iii. 15. Exod. xii. 25 — 27. xiii. 14, 15. 
Deut. vi. 6, 7, 20, 21. 10- Deterring them from evil by serious 
warnings, and by meek, suitable, and God-glorifying correction, 
1 Sam. iii. 13. Eph. vi. 4. Prov. xxix. 15. xiii. 24. xxii. 15. 
xxiii. 13, 14. 11. Encouraging them in well-doing by example, 
kind excitements, and rewards, Psalm ci. 2. Prov. iv. 4- 



MB OF THE LAW OF GOD. 

1 Chron. xxviii. 9, 20. xxii. 16. 12. Seasonable disposal of 
them in marriage suited to their station, temper, consent, and 
their temporal, but especially their spiritual and eternal wel- 
fare, Ruth iii. 1. 1 Cor. vii. 36. Gen. xxiv. xxviii. 13. Care- 
ful Christian management of their temporal affairs for their ad- 
vantage, and timely settlement of them, so as to prevent all 
contention and alienation of affection among them, 2 Cor. xii. 
14. Isa. xxxviii. 1. 14. When dying, solemnly to charge and 
encourage them to fear God, — and to bless and commit them 
into the hand of their covenanted God, Gen. xxvii. xxviii. xlix. 
Jer. xlix. 11. — And the duties of children to their parents 
are, 1. Tender love and affection, Gen. xlvi. 29. Rom. i. 31. 
2. Filial awe, fear, and reverence of them, Lev. xix. 3. 3. Re- 
spectful behaviour towards them, Lev. xix. 32. Mai. i. 6. Gen. 
xxxi. 35. 1 Kings ii. 19. 4. Ready obedience to their lawful 
commands, Col. iii. 20. Gen. xxvii. 13. Luke ii. 51. Eph. vi. 

1. 5. Hearty submission to their directions, admonitions, re- 
proofs, corrections, Prov. i. 8. xiii. 1. Heb. xii. 9. 6. Ready 
compliance with their reasonable advice relative to their calling, 
marriage, or other things important, Deut. vii. 3. Jer. xxix. 6. 

1 Cor. vii. 37, 38. Gen. xxiv. 34. xxi. 21. xxviii. 1, 2. xxix. 19. 
7. Affectionate requital of their parental kindness, in providing 
for them when they become old and infirm, 1 Tim. v. 4. Mat. 
xv. 4—6. Gen. xlvii. 12. John xix. 27- 8. Living in a man- 
ner which tends to honour them, following their good advices 
and examples, improving their instructions and property in a 
right manner, and paying their just debts, Psalm xlv. 16. 
exxvii. 3 — 5. exxviii. 3. 

The mutual duties of husbands and wives are, 1. To marry 
only in the Lord, first giving themselves to him, and marrying 
with such as apparently fear him, and after much solemn con- 
sultation of him, and in a manner honourable to him, and with 
a single eye to his glory as their chief end, 1 Cor. vii. 39. 

2 Cor. vi. 14. Deut. vii. 3, 4. 1 Cor. x. 31. 1 Pet. iv. 11. 

2. Most tender marriage-love to one another, Eph. v. 21, 28. 

3. Peaceful affectionate dwelling together, 1 Pet. iii. 7. 1 Cor. 
vii. 5, 10, 15. Gen. xii. 11. 4. Earnest care to please one 
another, Gen. xxvii. 9. 1 Cor. vii. 33. 5. Cheerful behaviour 
toward one another, Eccl. ix. 9. Prov. v. 19. 6. Honouring 
one another, 1 Cor. xi. 7. 1 Pet. iii. 4. Prov. xxxi. 11, 28. 
Gen. xvi. 6. xviii. 12. 7. Most affectionate sympathy, partak- 
ing one another's troubles, burdens, griefs, cares, joys, &c. 
Gal. vi. 2. Rom. xii. 16. Heb. xiii. 3. 8. Concealing one 
another's infirmities, as far as it can be done without sin, Prov. 
x. 12. 1 Pet. iv. 8. 1 Sam. xxv. 25. 9. Faithfulness to one 
another, in respect of soul, body, reputation, or outward pro- 
perty, lPet. iii. 7. Heb. xiii. 4. Prov. xiv. 1. 10. Deep 



OF THE LAW OF GOp. 479 

concern for one another's spiritual welfare, watching over, 
praying with, kindlv admonishing, and living exemplarily be- 
fore one another, 1 Pet. iii. 7. 2 Kings iv. 1,9, 10. 1 Cor. vii. 
16. 1 Sam. i. 8. 2 Cor. xiii. 9, 10. Job ii. 9, 10. Eccl. iv. 9, 10. 
1 Tim. v. 1. Lev. xix. 17. 11. Conjunct care to provide for, 
and religiously govern the family, 1 Tim. v. 8. Gen. xviii. 19. 
Josh. xxiv. 15. — The peculiar duties of husbands to their 
wives are, 1. Kindly to cherish and protect them, Ruth iii r 9. 
1 Sam. xxx. 18. Gen. xvi. 6. 2. To provide for them, 1 Tim. 
v. 8. 3. To direct them, Prov. ii. 17-1 Pet. iii. 7. — The pe- 
culiar duties of wives to their husbands are, 1. Subjection to 
them in heart, word, and deed, manifested in a ready submis- 
sion to their w ill, 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12. Eph. v. 22, 24. Col. iii. 18. 
1 Pet. iii. 1, 5. 2. Delightful awe and reverence of them, 
1 Pet. iii. 2, 6. Eph. v. 33. 3. Readiness to ask and receive 
instruction from them, Gen. iii. 16. 1 Tim. ii. 11. 1 Cor xiv. 
35. 4. Frugaf management of that which they provide for the 
family, Prov. xxxi. 29. xiv. 1. Tit. ii. 5, 6. 1 Pet. iii. 3, 4. 

The duties of masters to their servants are, 1. To take heed 
whoi^they hire, lest they bring God's curse into their family 
with a wicked servant, Psalm ci. 6. Gen. xxxix. 3, 4. 2. Care- 
fully to consider their abilities, in order to proportion their work 
to them Psalm, cxii. 5. Gen. xxix. 14, 15. 3. To give them 
proper directions for their work, Prov- xxxi. 27. 4. To give 
them proper maintainance and wages for their labour, Prov. 
xxvii. 27. James v. 4. Lev. xxiii. 43. Deut. xxiv. 14, 15. 5. To 
keep them in their proper station with respect to familiarity, 
power, victuals, and the like, lest they become insolent, Prov. 
xxix. 21. 6. Gentle treatment of them, and readiness to hear 
their defences or excuses for their conduct, Col. iv. 1. Job xxxi. 
32- 2 Kings v. 13. 7. Aversion to hear bad reports of them. 
Prov. xxix. 11. 8. Tender care of them when they are sick 
and infirm, Mat. viii. 6. 1 Sam. xxx. 13. 9. Bestowing dis- 
tinguished favours on those that are remarkably diligent and 
faithful, Deut. xv. 13, 14, 18. xxv. 17. 10. Earnest care to 
train them up for God, who brought them into their service for 
that end, Josh. xxiv. 15. Gen. xviii. 19. — The duties of ser- 
vants to masters are, 1. If possible to hire themselves with such 
as apparently fear God, Prov. iii. 33. Jer. x. 25. 2. Inward 
reverence and esteem of them, 1 Pet. ii. 18. Mai. i. 6. Eph. vi. 
5. 3. External honour of them, Mai. i. 6. 1 Tim. vi. 1, 2. 
4. Conscientious care to maintain the honour of the family, 
Gen. xxiv. 34 — tl. xxxix. 8, 9. Mic. vii. 6. 5. Strict adherence 
to their own allotted provision, wages, and rest, Gen. xxx. 33. 
Prov. xxxi. 15, 18. 6. Meek submission to rebukes and cor- 
rections, Tit. ii. 9. 1. Pet. ii. 18 — 20. Gen. xvi. 9. 7. Con- 
scientious, honest, cheerful, single, faithful, ready, and diligent 



480 ©F THE LAW OF GOD. 

performance of the business appointed them, Tit. ii. 9, 10. Psal. 
cxxiii. 1, 2. Col. iii. 23 — 25. Gen. xxix. 20. Mat. xxiv. 45. 
Luke xvi. 6. 2 Kings v. 22. Gen. xxxi. 6, 38. Prov. xviii. 9. 
xxii. 29. Rom. xii. 11. 8. Earnest care to attend family wor- 
ship, and to profit by family instructions, Prov. iv. 7. 

The duties of ministers to their people are, 1. To make 
sure a proper stock of furniture for their work, 1 John i. 1 — 3. 
2 Cor. iv. 13. 2. To fix among them by a proper call, 1 Pet 
v. 3. Jer. xxiii. 21, 22, 32. Rom. x. 15. Heb. v. 4. 3. Pru- 
dently to acquaint themselves with their tempers and spiritual 
estate, that they may regulate their ministrations accordingly-, 
Phil. ii. 19, 20. 4. To abound in, and exercise the most ten- 
der love to, and care for their souls, 1 Thess. ii. 7, 8. 5. Faith- 
ful, impartial, and diligent administration of divine ordinances 
answerable to their condition, poor, sick, scandalous, &c. 2 Tim. 
iv. 2. 1 Thess. ii. 3, 4. 6. Watchfulness over their behaviour 
for the benefit of their souls, Heb. xiii. 17- 7. Habitual fer- 
vent prayer for them, Eph. i. 15 — 19. iii. 14 — 19. 8. A lively 
and shining example of divine truth in their own Christian prac- 
tice, Heb.jxiii. 7,8. Tit.ii.7. 1 Tim.iv. 12. 1 Thess. ii. 1—10 — 
The duties of people to their ministers are, 1. Distinguished 
reverence of them as ambassadors of Christ, 2 Cor. v. 20. 1 Cor. 
iv. 1, 2. Rev. i. 20. 2. Endeared affection to them for their 
work's sake, 1 Thess. v. 12, 13. Gal. iv. 14, 15. 3. Much fer- 
vent prayer for them, and for the success of their work, Rom. 
xv. 30, 31. Eph. vi. 19, 20. 1 Thess. v. 25. 4. Diligent at- 
tendance on all the ordinances of Christ dispensed by them 
Heb. x. 25. Luke x. 16. 2 Kings iv. 22, 23. 5. Submission to 
them as Christ's deputies in their warnings, reproofs, censures. 
Heb. xiii. 17. Mat. x.40. 

The duties of magistrates to their subjects are, l.To esta- 
blish good laws, and effectually execute them, Zech. viii. 16 
2 Chron. xix. Psalm lxxii. Ixxxii. 2. To govern them with 
wisdom, equity, and affection, 2 Chron. i. 10. 3. To protect 
them in their just rights and privileges derived from God, 
1 Tim. ii. 2. Prov. xxviii. 16. 4. By good example and righ- 
teous laws to promote the true religion, and no other, among 
them, Isa. xlix. 23. 5. To punish evil doers, and encourage 
them that do well, Rom. xiii. 3. — And the duties of subjects 
to their magistrates are, 1. To respect them as the deputies, 
image, and ordinance of God, Rom. xiii. 1 — 6. Psalm lxxxii- 
6. 1 Sam. xxvi. 16, 17. Prov. xxiv. 21. 2. Charitable construc- 
tion of their conduct as far as it can bear it, 1 Sam. xxvi. 19. 
Exod. xxii. 28. Eccl. x. 20. 2 Pet. ii. 10. Jude 8. 3. Subjec- 
tion to their just laws, Rom. xiii. 5. Tit. iii. 1, 2. 1 Thess. ii. 4- 
4. Cheerful payment of just taxes, Rom. xiii. 6, 7- Luke xx- 
25. 5. Defence of them from their enemies, 2 Sam. xviii. 3» 



OF THE LAW OF GOD. 4.31 

1 Sam. xxvi. 15. 6. Much solemn and fervent praver for them, 
t Tim. ii. 1, 2. 7- Earnest care to live under their govern- 
ment as an honour, comfort, and blessing to them and others, 
Isa. vi. 13. lxv. 8. 

The duties of superiours in age, gifts, or graces, to their in- 
feriours in these, are, 1. To adorn their superiority by an holy 
and exemplary conversation, Tit. ii. 2. 2. To take every op- 
portunity of instructing and warning them, recommending 
Christ and his ways to them, 1 Cor. ii. 2. — The duties of infe- 
riours to their superiours are, 1. To give them due honour and 
respect, Lev. xix. 32. 2. Earnest desire to have their counsels 
and instructions, and ready submission to them, 1 Pet. v. 5. 
3. Earnest imitation of them in that which is good, 1 Cor. xi. 
1. — The duties of eqjjals one to another, are, 1. To cultivate 
• the most affectionate love to, and peace with one another, 

1 Thess. iii. 13. Heb. xii. 14. Rom. xii. 9, 10—18. xiv. 19. 

2 Cor. xiii. 11. 2. To prefer one another in honour and es- 
teem, Rom. xii. 10. Phil. ii. 2, 3. 3. To be courteous and af- 
fable, and ready to promote and rejoice in the welfare of one 
another, 1 Pet. iii. 8. iv. 8. Rom. xii. 10, 15. xiv. 19. 1 Cor. 
x. 24. 4. Faithfully to warn and reprove one another, Lev. 
xix. 17. 1 Thess. v. 14. 5. To vie with one another in tender 
sympathy under trouble, Gal.vi. 2. Heb. xiii. 3. Rom. xii. 15. 
6. To provoke one another to love, and in holy and circumspect 
behaviour, Heb. x. 24. Eph. iv. 31, 32. 

The sins against these and similar relations lying either in 
neglect of, or in acting contrary to the above-mentioned duties, 
we shall not particularly exhibit them. — This commandment is 
not only the first in the second table, but is the first, the 
only one, which has a promise peculiar to itself, viz. of long life 
and prosperity to the upright keepers of it, Exod. xx. 12. Eph. 
vi. 2. Long life is a blessinc, 1. When men grow in grace as 
they do in age, Psalm xcii. 19. 2. When they retain the full ex- 
ercise of their reason with some proper measure of bodily vigour, 
Deut. xxxiv. 7. 3. When they continue useful to others around, 
Josh. xxiv. 25 — 29 In such circumstances old age is honour- 
able, Prov. xvi. 31. Lev. xix. 32. ; and profitable, giving us more 
experience of God's kindness, 1 John ii. 13.; more ability to re- 
sist the temptations of Satan or the world, 2 Tim. ii. 13. 1 Pet. 
v. 9. ; and more opportunity to glorify God, edify others, and 
be ripened for everlasting happiness, Job v. 26. 2 Cor. ix. 6. 
Phil. i. 23, 24. Josh. xxiv. 31. — Some that neglect relative du- 
ties live long, and have much outward prosperity, but not by 
the virtue of any gracious promise, but bv the fearful curse of 
God, Deut. xxvii. 26. Gal. iii. 10. They enjoy no true com- 
fort, but are ripened for hell, by every thing which they enjoy, 
Deut. xxxii. 15. Hos. xiii. 6. — Some that conscientiously per- 

3 S 



482 OF THE LAW OF GOD. 

form relative duties have their life short and afflicted. But either 
their performance has some remarkable defect in it before God ; 
or their adversity is remarkably blessed to them, and they en- 
joy the residue of their years in heaven, Psalm xcix. 67, 71, 75. 
Heb. xii. 5 — 11. Job v. 17. Prov. iii. 12. Psalm xciv. 12. Rev. 
jii. 19. Isa. xxvii.9. lvii.l. Phil. i. 23. Rom.viii.28. 2Cor.ivl.7. 

VI. The sixth Commandment requires the preservation 
of temporal, and the promoting spiritual life. — We ought to 
promote our own spiritual and eternal life, 1 . By a careful perus- 
ing the Scriptures, which are the words of eternal life, and of 
gospel-ordinances, which are the means of it, John v. 39. Isa. 
xxxiv. 16. viii. 20. Prov. viii. 34 — .35. 2. By receiving Jesus 
Christ as the resurrection and life into our hearts by faith, in or- 
der to beget, maintain, and perfect spiritual life in us, John* 
vi. 27. xi. 25. 1 Pet. ii. 1 — 4. 3. By avoiding sin and ali ap- 
pearances of, and temptations to it, Prov. xi. )9. iv. 23. viii. 
36. v. 8. 1 Thess. v. 22. Mark xiv. 38. xiii. 31, 37. 1 Pet. v. 
8. 1 Cor. xvi. 13. — We ought to preserve our natural life, 
1. By instating and confirming it in a new-covenant relation to 
God, Psalm cxix. 94. xvi. 1. xvii. 8. 1 Sam. xxv. 29. 2. By 
just and necessary def nee of it from such as seek to destroy it, 
Luke xxii. 30. vi. 29. 3. By furnishing our body with pro- 
per food, physick, labour, clothes, rest, recreation, Eph. v. 29. 
4. By avoiding drunkenness, gluttony, and tasciviousness, which 
gradually ruin it, Luke xxi. 34. Prov. v. vii. vi. 26, 32. xxiii. 
26 — 35. ix. 18. 5. By maintaining our inward passions in a 
proper temper of meekness, peaceablentss, patience, and humi- 
lity, Prov. xvii. 20, 22. xv. 13, 15. xviii. 14. — We ought to 
promote the spiritual and eternal life of our neighbours, 1. By 
setting before them such an amiable pattern of gospel-holiness 
as may gain them toi Christ, Matth. v. 16. 1 Cor. vii . 16. 1 Pet. 
iii. 1,2. Zech. viii. 23. 2. By diligent instruction and excite- 
ment to faith and holiness, answerable to our station, accom- 
panied with fervent prayer, for them, 1 Thess. v. 14. Gen. xliii. 
29. Isa. ii. 3, 5. 3. By earnest endeavours to prevent their 
sinning, or being tempted to it, Jude 23. 1 Thess. v. 14. — And 
we ought to preserve their natural life, 1. By protecting them 
from unlawful attempts against it, Psalm Ixxxii. 3, 4. Prov. 
xxiv. 11, 12. 2. By giving them the necessaries of life, as 
equity or charity require, Prov. iii. 27 — 29. xxvii. 27-xxxi. 15. 
xx. 27. xix. 17. James ii. 15, 16. 1 John iii. 17. 3. By la- 
bouring to promote and exercise such affection toward them 
as will hinder our hurting them, and make us do them all the 
good we can, readily forgiving the injuries they have done us, 
and by the most kind behaviour, rendering their life comfort- 
able to them, Eph. iv. 31, 32. Rom. xv. 1. 2 Cor. xiii. 5, 7. 



OF THE LAW OF GOD. 433 

Col. iii. 12, 13. Matth. v. 42, 44. Acts xvi. 28.---Butwe must 
never lie, deny any truth of Christ, or practise an unlawful 
trade, or use any sinful shift, for preserving our own or our 
neighbour's life. 1. No commandment of God must ever be 
opposed to another, Rom. vii. 12. 2. Their damnation is just 
who do evil that good may come, Rom. iii. 8., 3. God must be 
loved, feared, and obeved, rather than men, Luke xiv. 2 6. 
Matth. x. 28. Acts v. 29. iv. 19. 4. Our soul ought not to be 
murdered, in order to preserve alive our body, Matth. xvi. 25, 
26. 5. He that conscientiously dies rather than sin, is a real 
martyr for Christ, Rev. ii. 10. 

Besides inhumanity towards brute animals, Prov. xii. 10. 
Num. xxii. 27 — 29. Exod. xxiii. 5, 12, 19. Deut. xxii. 4—7- 
Luke xiii. 15. xiv. 5. this commandment forbids, I. Self- 
murder, either, 1. Of our soul, by neglecting God's appointed 
means of salvation, Prov. viii. 34 — 36.; — by opposing the me* 
diate or immediate strivings of his Spirit, Prov. xxix. 1. Acts 
vii. 51. Isa. lxiii. 10. Heb. x. 26—- 31, 38. 2 Pet. ii. 20—22.; — 
and by continued unbelief, impenitence, and progress in sin, 
Ezek. xviii. 31, 32. Jer. iv. 14. xiii. 23, 27. vi. 8. Rom. ii. 4, 
5. — Or, 2. Of oar body, in directly attempting to deprive it of 
life, which at once usurps the prerogative of God, the Lord of 
life, manifests the most horrid pride, discontentment, impa- 
tience and despair, and naturally tends to plunge us headlong 
into hell fire, 1 Sam. xxxi. 4, 5. 2 Sam. xvii. 23. Mat. xxvii. 
4, 5. ;— -or in doing that which tends to destroy our natural life, 
—as indulgence of thoughts or designs against it, Job vii. 15. ; 
envy and rage against others, Job v. 2. Prov. xiv. 30. ; impa- 
tience and discontent under trouble, Psalm xxxvii. 1, 8. "Heb. 
xiii. 5. Prov. xv. 13. xvii. 22.; immoderate worldly sorrow, 
2 Cor. vii. 10. 1 Sam. i. 15. ; anxious care about worldly things, 
Matth. vi. 31, 34. Psalm iv. 6. ; neglect of our body with re- 
spect to food, raiment, medicine, rest and recreation, through 
superstition, carelessness, covetousness,churlishness,outrageous 
passion, or temptations of Satan, Col. ii. 23. Eccl. x. 8. vi. 2. 

1 Kings xxi. 4. ; — intemperance, gluttony, drunkenness, sen- 
suality, Phil. iii. 19. Prov. xx. 1. xxiii. 1, 21, 9 — 35. v. 10. 
vii. 22, 27. ix. 18. Luke xxi. 34. xvi. 19. xvii. 27. Isa. xxii. 
12—14. Rom. xiii. 13, 14. 1 Pet. ii. 11.; immoderate labour, 
Eccl. vii. 22, 23. ; or exposing ourselves to unnecessary dangers, 

2 Sam. xxiii. 16, 17. Matth. iv. 5 — 7. II. Murder of our 
neighbours, in, 1. Their soul, by giving them a sinful or impru- 
dent example, Mat. xviii. 6, 7. ; by neglecting to prevent their 
sinning, or to reform them from it, Ezek. iii. 18. 1 Sam. iii. 
13. Lev. xix. 17. John iii. 15. ; by co-operating With them in 
sin, commanding, advising, provoking, tempting, teaching, or 
assisting them to commit it, or approving and delighting in it, 



484 OF THE LAW OF GOD. 

Hos. v. 11. 12. 2 Sam. xiii. 5. 1 Kings xxi. 25. Prov. vii; 
10 — 27. Psalm 1. 18. Acts viii. 1. Rom. i. 32. Psalm xlix. 13. 
Prov. xiv. 19. ; — and by hardening our heart against them on ac- 
count of their sin, and not mourningUver it, or their danger by 
it, Lam. i. 8, 17. v. 16 — 22. Ezek. ix. 4. Ezra. ix. 5 — 15. Dan. 
iii. 19, 20. Jer. ix- 1 — 21. 2. In their body, — not by killing 
them in lawful war, Josh. vi.---xiii. Num. xxxi. 1 Sam. xv. ; or 
in necessary self-defence, or in just punishment of their mur- 
der, adultery, idolatry, blasphemy, gross profanation of the 
Sabbath, &c. ; as in these cases, God puts his sword into men's 
hands to execute his just vengeance according to their stations. 
— But we murder their body, in unjustly killing them without, 
or under colour of law, Gen. iv. 8- — 11. 2 Sam. xi. 15. 1 Kings 
xxi. 1— -12.; in unjust war, Hab. ii. 12.; or in private duels, 
Rom. xii. 19. Prov. xvi. 32. xxv. 28. Mat- v. 39, 44. ;— or in 
doing that which tends to murder them— -whether in our heart, 
by sinful anger and wrath, Matth. v. 22. Eph. iv. 26, 27. Col. 
iii. 12, 13, 21. ; envy, Prov. xiv. 30. xxvii. 4. Job v. 2. Rom. 
xii. 15. Gal. v. 20, 21, 26. ; hatred, malice, 1 John iii. 15. Tit. 
5ii. 3.; revengeful thoughts, desires, and joys, Matth. vi. 15. 
Prov. xxiv. 17, 18. ; unaffectedness with their distress, Prov. 
xii. 10. Obad. 10 — 14. Amos vi. 6. ; — in our speech, by quarrel- 
ling, bitter railing, reproachful or disdainful scoffing or derid- 
ing, angry cursing, Prov. xxiii. 29, 33. Gal. v. 15. 1 Cor. v. 
11. Psalm lxiv. 3, 4. Iii. 2. lvii. 4. cxl. 3. xxii. 6, 16. cix. 18. 
Prov. xii. 18. xv. 1. Eph. iv. 31. 2 Sam. xvi. 5, 7- 1 Pet. iii. 
9. Matth. v. 22. Heb. xi. 33. John xix. 3. 2 Kings ii. 23, 24. ; 
or false accusation, Luke xxiii. 2. Acts xxiv. 5. ;— in fierce, sul- 
len, or enraged looks, which denote inclination to, or pleasure 
in mischief, Gen. iv. 5. Obad. 12. Acts vii. 54. ; and in our acts, 
withholding from them their means of life, Luke x. 31, 32. 
James ii. 15, 16. Job xxxi. 26. Matth. xxv. 42.; and hurting 
their body, or their trade, labour, or property, by which its life 
and health are maintained, Exod. xxi. 18, 22. Ezek. xxii. 7. 
Isa. iii. 14, 15. Mic. iii. 3. Matth. xxiv. 9, 10. Isa. v. 8. 

VII. The Seventh Commandment requires, I. The pre- 
serving our own chastity in heart, speech, and behaviour, Job 
xxx. 1. Col. iv. 6. 1 Pet. iii. 2- ; by studying to have our whole 
man instated in a new-covenant marriage relation to Christ, 
and to God in him, Isa. liv. 5—10. Jer. xxxii. 38—41. ; and to 
have his Spirit dwelling in us, Isa. xliv. 3, 4. Ezek. xxxvi. 27. 
Rom. viii. 9, 13. ; and by a daily and earnest application of his 
word, blood, and gracious influence for mortifying our in- 
ward lusts, and filling our heart with true holiness in opposi- 
tion to them, John xv. 3. xvii. 17. Psalm cxix. 9. Heb. ix. 14. 
x. 22. Rom. viii. 13.2 Cor. vii. 1 . Prov. ii. 1—19. ; an habitual, 



OF THE LAW OF GOD. 486 

frequent and fervent recommending ourselves to God's pre- 
servation, Psalm xvi. 1. xvii. 8. xix. 11, 12, 13. ; lively exercise 
of our implanted graces, 2 Pet. iii. 18. i. 5 — 8. 2 Cor. vii. 1. ; 
watchfulness over our heart, eyes, and ears, Prov. iv. 23. Psal. 
xviii. 23. Job xxxi. 1. 2 Sam. xi. 2. Gen. xxxix. 7. Prov. vii. 
21, 22. xix. 27.; temperance in eating and drinking, or recrea- 
tions, Luke xxi. 34. ; a careful avoiding frothy and unchaste 
company, Prov. ii. 16. ix. 6. v. 8, 9. ; diligence in lawful busi- 
ness, Rom. xii. 11. 2 Sam. xi. 2. Gen. xxxiv. 1. Ezek. xvi. 49. ; 
early and earnest resistance of temptations to unchastity or oc- 
casions thereof, Gen xxxix. 1 — 9. 1 Cor. vi. 18. Prov. v. 8. ; 
marrving in the Lord, when proper, 1 Cor. vii. 2, 9, 39. ; and 
dwelling with our yoke-fellow in tender love and affection, 
1 Pet. iii. 7. Prov. v. 19, 20. Eccl. ix. 9. II. The preserv- 
ing our neighbour's chastity in heart, speech, and behaviour, tak- 
ing care to do nothing that tends to ensnare or defile them, Gen. 
xxxviii. 14, 15, 26. 1 Tim. ii. 9.; and doing every thing we 
can, by example, instruction, warning, reproof, and prayer for 
them, to promote and preserve their chastity, Prov. ii. v. vii. ix. 
This commandment fokbids, I. Completed acts of uncieannesSy 
—■unnatural, bestial, diabolical, selfish, sodomitical, and inces- 
tuous pollutions, Lev. xviii. xx- Gen. xxxviiii. 9, 18. Jude8- 
Rom. i. 26, 27. Eph. v. 12. 1 Cor. v. 1 — Adultery, to which 
polygamy may be reduced, as marriage, and far less perjury in the 
violation of former marriage-vows, cannot sancufy sin, Hos. iv. 
18. Gen.ii. 18 — 24.; and concubinage, 1 Kings xi. 1, 3. ; — for- 
nication bet ween persons both of them unmarried, Col. iii. 5, 6. 
Eph. v.5. 1 Cor. vi.9,15.; — rapeorviolentdefilementof women, 
Deut. xxii. 25.; — immoderate and unseasonable familiarity be- 
tween married persons, 1 Thess. iv. 3, 4. Heb. xiii. 4. Lev. xv. 
10. xviii. 18. 1 Cor. vii. 5 II. Every thing that tends to- 
wards unchast tactions, — ^approaches towards them, — indwell- 
ing lustfulness, unchaste imaginations, thoughts, and desires, 
Mat. v. 28. xv. 19. ; speaking, hearing, writing, or reading un- 
chaste expressions, Eph. iv. 29. Prov. vii. 18, 21. ; unchaste 
looks, receiving temptations into our own heart, or enticing 
others, 2 Pet. ii. 14. Isa. iii. 16 — 26. ; light and immodest be^ 
haviour, Isa. iii. 16. Prov. vii. 13.; wanton embraces and dalli- 
ances, Prov. vii. 13. ; — and all incentives to them y as stage-plays, 
lewd pictures, Ezek. xxiii. 14 — 21. ; immodest apparel, Prov. 
vii. 10. ; fellowship of vain persons, Gen. xxxiv. 1. Prov. v. 
8 — 12. ; idleness, Ezek. xvi. 49. ; intemperance in eating and 
drinking, Prov. xxiii. 30. Jer. v. 8. Rom. xiii. 13. James v. 5. 
1 Pet. iv. 3.; undue delay of marriage, 1 Cor. vii. 7 — 9-; unjust 
divorce. Matth. v. 32. 1 Cor. vii. 12, 13. Matth. ii. 16.; un- 
kindness between married persons, 1 Cor. vii. 5. ; vows of per- 
petual single life, prohibitions of marriage, Matth. xix. 10, 11. 



486 OF THE IAW OP GOD. 

1 Tim. iv. 3. ; — dispensing with unlawful marriages, Markvi. 
18.; — tolerating stews, Deut. xxiii. 17. Heb. xiii. 4. — All which 
forms of unchastity we ought carefully to avoid, because l. It 
exceedingly dishonours God, Gen. xxxix. 9. Psalm h. 4. 1 Cor. 
Hi. 17. vi. 18. Job xxxi. 11- 2. Falls into it arc frequent! . ie 
punishment of some other sin, Prov. xxii. 14. Rom. i. 26, 27- 
Hos. iv. 14. Amos vii. 17. 3. Few truly rep-m of it, and tnese 
with greatdifficulty, Prov. ii. 19. xxii. 14. xxiii. 27, 28. Eccl. vii. 
26. Actsxxiv.25. 4. It dishonours and often murders our body, 
1 Cor. vi. 18. Prov. v. 11, 12. vii. 22. 5. It fixes a permanent 
stain upon our character, Prov. vi. 33. 6. It wrathfullv con- 
sumes our outward estate, Prov. v. 10. vi. 26. Job xxxi. 12. 
7. It, in a fearful manner, secures our eternal ruin, Prov. vi. 
32. vii. 26, 27. ix. 18. Heb. xiii. 4. 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10. Gal. v. 

19, 21. Rev. xxi. 8. xxii. 15. Col. iii. 5, 6. Ej>h. v. 5, 6. 

The Eighth Commandment requires the promoting our 
own and our neighbours's wealth and outward estate. This com- 
mand necessarily supposes men's peculiar property in temporal 
good things ; as without that there could be no stealing. The 
Jewish Christians were not required to part with their civil 
property ; but, being apprehensive of the impending ruin of 
their nation, they inclined to bestow it in the service of Christ 
and the support of his saints, while they had opportunity. Nor 
perhaps was the right to it, but the use of it made common, 
Acts. ii. 44, 45. iv. 34 — 37. I. We ought to promote our ozv?i 
wealth and outward estate, 1. By taking a new-covenant right to 
all things through a spiritual union with Christ the heir of them, 
1 Cor. iii. 22. Heb. i. 2. Mat. vi. 33. 2. By depending on and 
praying to God, as our new-covenant Father, to bestow on us, 
and keep for us such things as are necessary and convenient, 
Deut. viii. 18. Psalm exxvii. 1. exxviii. 1, 2. Prov. xxx. 8. 
Mat. vi. 11. 3. By prudent foresight and care to have every 
thing answerable to our station and ability, 1 Tim. v. 8. 4. By 
due exercise of our ability or stock insome lawful calling, which 
is calculated to glorify God, and profit ourselves and our neigh- 
bours, Gen. ii. 15. iv. 2. Eph. iv. 28. Prov. xiv. 8. xiii. 4. X. 4. 
xxii. 29. Isa. xxviii. 26. Gen. ix. 19, 20. 5. By cheerfully al- 
lowing ourselves a moderate enjoyment of the fruit of our law- 
ful industry, Eccl. iii. 12, 13. ii. 24. ix. 9. Psalm exxviii. 2. 
6. By frugal management of that which we have to the best 
advantage, not from a churlish disposition, but as stewards of 
God's property, taking care to waste nothing upon trifles, and 
to lose nothing useful, Isa. Iv. 2. John vi. 12. Prov. xi. 24. xxi. 

20. 7- By careful avoiding unnecessary law-suits, and every 
other thing that tends to embarrass our outward estate or shame 
our profession, Matth. v. 40. 1 Cor. vi. 1 — 8. 8. By necessary 



OP THE LAW OF GOD. 487 

prosecution of our civil rights at law, if the matter be of much 
importance, and can be obtained without rendering our neigh- 
bour and his family outwardly miserable, and if softer methods 
cannot procure us justice, Deut. xxv. 1. 9. Never idolizing, 
but moderating our affections toward all earthly enjoyments, 

1 Tim. vi. 17. 10. By carefully avoiding all haste to be rich, 
and all mingling of unjust gain with our lawful property as a 
curse upon it, 1 Tim. vi. 4. Prov. xxviii. 22. James v. 3, 4. 
11. By liberal, but prudently directed donations to the poor, 

and to pious uses, Prov- xix. 17. iii 9, 10. II. We ought 

to promote the wealth of 'jur neighbours, 1. By much prayerful 
endeavours to have them and it secured in a new-covenant con- 
nection with God, James v. 16. Phil. ii. 44. 2. By careful en- 
deavours to prevent their loss and damage, Dent. xxii. 1. Exod. 
xxiii. 4, 5. 3. By universal honesty in dealing with them, ra- 
ther hurting our own property than theirs, Mat. vii. 12. Psalm 
xv. 2. 4. Zech. vii. 9, 10. 4. By conscientious restitution of 
every thing which we have found or wrongfully taken from 
them, Deut xxii. 23. Lev. vi. 2---5. Job. xx. 10, 18. Ezek. 
xviii. 7. Luke xix. 8. Num. v. 6— -8. ; or, if the proper owners 
cannot be found, to restore it to the poor, as factors for the 
Lurd of all things. 5. By charity and equity in cheerfully but 
prudently lending to them for their assistance, even without in* 
terest or hope of payment, if their circumstances require it, 
Mat. v. 42. Luke vi. 35, 36. Deut xxiii. 20. Lev. xxv. 34.; 
and in thankful and timely returning that which we have bor- 
rowed, in as good condition as we got it, unless God's provi- 
dence, not our own prodigality or sloth, render us incapable, 

2 Kings iv. 1. 6. By charitable donations ol that which is truly 
our own, and with a real desire to help the poor, and to pro- 
mote the religious service of God, Luke xi. 41. xvi. 9. Gal. vi. 
10. Tim. v. 8. Eph. iv. 28. Eccl. xi. 1. 1 John iii. 17. Pro. 
iii. 9. xix. 17.— These donations ought to be made conscien- 
tiously, under a sense of our debt to God as his vassals and te- 
nants, Prov. iii. 9. Mat. vi. 1, 2. ; cheerfully, 2 Cor. ix. 7. ; with 
secrecy, except when publicity is necessary for exciting others, 
Mat. vi. 3, 4. ; in proportion to that which he bestows upon us, 
— perhaps not less than a tenth p-.irt of our incomes in ordinary 
cases, 1 Cor. xvi. 2. Psalm cxii. 5, 9. Gen. xiv. 20. xxviii. 22 f ; 
and from an honourable regard to Christ and his poor members 
or brethren of mankind, 1 Cor. xi. 22. Gal. vi. 10. — And thus 
given, these donations are, 1. Most reasonable, as we hold all 
that we have of God as his stewards or tenants, Luke xvi. 10 
— 12. 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18. ; and hence called righteousness, Psalm 
cxii. 9. Prov. x. 2. iii. 27. 2. Most honourable, conforming us 
to the pattern of God in Christ, Acts xx. 35. Luke vi. 35. 
2 Cor. viii. 9. 3. Most conducive to secure proper necessaries 



488 OP THE LAW OF GOD. 

for us and our posterity, Prov. xxviii. 27. xix. 17. Eccl. xi. 1, 
2. Psalm xxxvii. 25, 26. ; nay, to render us rich, Prov. iii. 9. 

10. xi. 24, 25. Psalm cxii. 3. 4. A most remarkable mean of 
preventing trouble or securing comfort under it, Dan. iv. 27. 
Psalm xli. 1 — 3. 5. They will be most honourably proclaimed 
by Christ in the last judgment, Mat xxv. 34 — 40. 6. They 
shall be abundantly, but graciously rewarded in heaven to all 
eternity, Matth. v. 7. vi. 4. Luke xv ; . 9. 

This commandment forbids, I. The hindering our ownwealth 
by, 1. Idleness, living without a business, or not attending to it, 
2 Thess. iii. 10, 11. 1 Tim. v. 13. 1 Thess. iv. 11, 12. Ezek. 
xvi. 49. Gen. iii. 19. 2. Carelessness and sloth, Prov. xxviii. 19- 
xiv. 1. xiii. 4. xxiii. 21. vi. 10, 11. xxiv. 30 — 34. 3. Not de- 
pending on, and acknowledging God in all our worldly busi- 
ness, Dent. viii. 18. Psalm cvii. 38. 4. Prodigal wasting that 
which God brings to our hand, Prov. xxi. 17. xxviii. 7. Luke 
xv. 13, 30. 5. Rash engagement in law-suits and surety- 
ship, Mat. v. 40. 1 Cor. vi. 1—8. Prov. vi. 1 — 5. xviii. 18. 
xxii. 26, 27. xxv. 9, 10. 6. Foolish giving to monasteries, 
overstocked funds, or to such as have no need, or to sluggards, 
spendthrifts, or imprudent lending to rash schemers, prodigal 
wasters, or the like, Psalm cxii. 5. 7. Distrustful anxiety in 
procuring or retaining earthly things, Mat. vi. 31, 34. Prov. 
xxviii. 22. Eccl. iv. 8. 8. Sordid churlishness, wanting a heart 
to enjoy in a proper manner or degree that wealth which we have, 
or to lay out proper expenses upon our affairs, Eccl. vi. 1—5. 
9. Exercise of unlawful callings,-— gamesters, stage-players, 
puppet-showers, pimps, pawn-brokers, smugglers, &c and all 
grasping at excessive gains, by which God's curse is brought 
upon that which we have, Zech. v. 4. Hos. v. 12. Hag. i. 6. 

11. The hindering our neighbour's wealth and outxvard estate^not 
only by direct theft and robbery of their persons or goods from 
particular persons, states, or churches, 1 Tim. i; Q. 10. Rom. ii. 
22. ; but by that which is more indirect, in, 1. A covetous incli- 
nation to have their property, Heb. xiii. 5. Col. iii. 5. 2. Idle- 
ness, Eph. iv. 28. 2 Thess. iii. 10 — 12. 1 Thess. iv. 11, 12. Mat. 
xx. 6. 3. Unnecessary begging, laying the burden of our 
maintainance upon others to the hurt of the liberal and the truly 
poor's wanting their due share of charity, Eph. iv., 28. 4. Base 
gain procured by sordid or unlawful methods, Acts xix. 24, 25.; 
of which kind is helping persons to a stock or subsistence by 
balls, drinking matches, penny weddings, Hab. ii. 15. Prov. 
xiii. 15. 5. Simoniacal merchandise of spiritual gifts, pardons, 
church-livings, sacraments, censures, orother sacred things; giv- 
ing or procuring them on account of money, favour, or the like, 
Acts viii. 20. Jobxv. 34. 6. Family frauds by husbands, wives, 
children, or servants, 1 Tim. v. 8. Prov. xxxi. 22. xxviii. 24. 



Ol" THE LAW OF GOD. 489 

Tit. ii. 9, 10. Psalm 1. 18. 7- Taking the advantage of our 
neighbour's ignorance or necessity in buyingor selling, Mat. vii. 

12. Lev. xix. ii. 8. Improper or false commendation of that 
which we sell, and dispraise of that which we intend to buy, 
Prov. xx. 14. 9. Adulterating goods, or selling one kind and 
dilivering another, Amos viii. 5, 6. 10. Using false weights or 
measures in merchandise, Micah vi. 10, 11. Amos viii. 5. Prov. 
XI. 1. Lev. xix. 36. 11. Bad payment of debts, neither early 
nor fully enough, nor in current money, Psalm xv. 4. Acts v. 
1 — 9. Gen. xxiii. 16. Rom. xiii. 8. 12. Dishonest fellowship, 
taking as much or more of the gain when we have less of the 
stock or labour in procuring It, 1 Thess. iv. 6. Matth. vii. 12. 

13. Bad neighbourhood, removing their land marks, injuring 
their corns, grass, goods, conveniences; decoving their servants 
or customers from them ; screwing ourselves into their business, 
farms, &c. Prov. xxii. 28. xxiii. 10. Isa. v. 8. Jer. ix. 6. Mic. 
ii. 2. vii. 2. — 4. 14- Dishonesty in trust, particularly to the 
poor, fatherless, or widows, Prov. xxiii. 10, 11. Luke xx. 47.; 
or perfidy in stewards, overseers, factors, &c. Luke xvi. 1 — 10. 
15. Dishonesty in loans, — borrowing without any probability 
of power to pay it at the time promised; restoring things bor- 
rowed in a worse condition ; — refusing to lend to the industrious 
poor in their necessity, and requiring interest from such as are 
unable to bear it, Exod. xxii. 14, 25 — 27. Mat. v. 42. Psalm 
xv. 5. Luke vi. 35. 16. Dishonest contracting of debt, — with- 
out sincere intention or proper appearance of ability to keep our 
promise of payment, — or without necessity on our part, and to 
the hurt of others, buying things which we might well want, 
Horn. xiii. 8. Mat. vii. 12. ; — neglect to pay just wages or debts 
at the time appointed, Prov. iii. 27 — 29. Psalm xxxvii. 21. ; — 
unwillingness to pay just debts, and mean while giving our 
ready money to others ; obliging our creditors to sue us at law, 
in order to have their own, — or leaving our debts to be paid by 
our sureties, Isa. lviii. 4. 1 Thess. iv. 6. Isa. lix. 14. 17. Frau- 
dulent bankruptcy, when by prodigality, pride, indolence, heed- 
lessness, rashness, or unlawful pushing of business, we plunge 
ourselves irrecoverably in debt ; or stop payments without suf- 
ficient cause ; or conceal part of our stock from our creditors ; — 
or are unconcerned to pay what part we have promised, or even 
the whole debt, if ever we be able, Luke xv. 13. Jer. ix. 4 — 6. 
18. Uncharitable use of our property, in engrossing useful com- 
modities, forestalling of markets, unjust inclosures of commons, 
depopulation of villages, &c. James ii. 13. Prov.xi. 26. Isa. v. 
8. Micah ii. 2. 19. Oppression, bearing down our neighbours 
by our superiour wealth, power, orinfluence, vexatious law-suits, 
retaining pledges, &c. Micah iii. 2, 3. Ezek. xxii. 7. Mai. iii. 5. 
James ii. 6. 1 Cor. vi. 1—6. Mat. v. 40,41. Exod. xxii. 26,27. 

3 T 



490 OF THB LAW OF GOD. 

Deut. xxiv. G. 20. Extortion, proprietors racking their rents, 
rulers their taxes, servants their wages, lenders their interest, 
1 Cor. v. 11. vi. 10; 21. Fellowship with thieves, — tempting 
them to steal, resetting or concealing that which they have 
stolen, or not sufficiently checking and punishing them when it 
is in our power, Psalm 1. 1 8. Prov. xxix. 24. Isa. i. 23. 22. Un- 
mercifulness to the poor, which is real theft, Eph. iv. 28. ; per- 
fidious ingratitude to God, Mat. xxiv. 41 — 45. xviii. 23 — 35. 
Luke xvi. 10.; murder of the poor, 1 John iii. 15. James ii. 16, 
17. — a token that we are destitute of God's grace, 1 John iii. 
17. xVlat. xxv. 41 — 43.; provokes God to deal unmercifully with 
us, James ii. 13. Pro\.xxi. 13. James v. 4.; imperceptibly wastes 
our substance, Prov. xi. 24, 25. James v. 2, 3. ; and, if conti- 
nued in, will at last damn us, Mat. xxv. 41 — 43. 23. With- 
holding from the support of ministers, schools, and other pious 
uses, that which is answerable to our incomes before God, Neh. 
xiii. 10. x. 32, 34. Hag. i. 4. Mai. iii. 9. 24. Sacrilegious defi- 
ciency in that good example, religious instruction, fervent pray- 
er, and other important usefulness which we owe to our neigh- 
bours for promoting their temporal as well as eternal advan- 
tage, Rom. xiii. 8. Hcb. x. 24. 

IX. The Ninth Commandment, respecting our own and 
our neighbour's reputation, and the truth connected with it, 
requires, I. The maintaining and promoting truth between man 
and man, in, 1. Speaking nothing bu r truth, as we think, and 
as things really are, Psalm xv. 2. 2 Thess. ii. 11. 2. Declar- 
ing that which is true upon every proper occasion, Zech. viii. 
16. 19. 3. Bearing witness, when necessary in judicature, 
freely, plainly, fully, sincerely, and unbiassedly, declaring the 
truth and nothing else, Prov. xiv. 5. xix. 5. 1 Sam. xix. 4, 5. 
John vii. 19. 2Chron. x'-x. 9. 2 Sam. xiv. 16—20. II. The 
maintaining and promoting of onr oxvn good name, in, 1. Tak- 
ing hold of God's covenant of grace, that we may have his 
new name put upon ns, and have his honour engaged in sup- 
port of our character, Rev. iii. 12. Isa. Ivi 5. lxii. 4, 12. Jer. 
xxxii. 40. 2. Studying to have a distinct, certain, and affect- 
ing knowledge of our own dignity as rational creatures, mem- 
bers of Christ, and friends of God, Psalm c. 3. 1 Cor. vi. 
15, 17, 19, 20. iii. 16, 17, 23. Eph. iv. 30. v. 30. Jer. iii. 4, 
14, 19, 22. 3. Entertaining only such thoughts as are ho- 
nourable to truth and our character, Phil. iv. 8. 4. Speaking 
nothing of ourselves but what is real truth, either in praise or 
dispraise, and even that only when we have a due call to it, 
Prov. xxv. 14. xxvi. 16. xxvii. 2.; prudently concealing our 
secret sins and infirmities, which we have no divine call to 
confess to men, Prov, xxv. 9, 10. ; and meekly defending our 



OF THE LAW OF GOD. 491 

character when it is unjustly attacked, John v. vii. viii. x. 
Acts xxii. xxiv. xxvi. 2 Cor. x. xi. 1 Cor. ix. Gal. i. ii. Josh, 
xxii. 1 Sam. xxii. 15. xxiv. 2 — 15. xxvi. 18.; candidly and 
readily confessing our faults with grief and shame, when re- 
proved, Prov. xxviii. 13. James v. 16. 5. In our behaviour 
avoiding every thing sinful or imprudent, and all appearances 
of it, and constantly following every thing good, and answer- 
able to our station, 1 Thess. v. 22. Eccl. x. 1. Phil. iv. 8. Col. 
i. — iv. Eph. iv. — vi. 1 Thess. i — v. Rom. xii. — xv. 1 Pet. i. 
— v. 2 Pet. i. 4 — 8. iii. 11, 14, 18. III. The maintaining and 
promoting our neighbour's good name, in, 1. Earnest care to 
have them vested with the honourable character of God's 
friends and children, Gal. iv. 19. James v. 19, 20. Prov. x. 
12. 1 Pet. iv. 8. Rom. x. 1. 2. Charitable esteeming of them, 

1 Cor. xiii. 8. Phil. ii. 3. Rom. xii. 10. 3. Kind covering 
their infirmities, 1 Pet. iv. 8. James v. 20. Prov.x. 12. 4. Readily 
acknowledging their gifts, graces, and good behaviour, 1 Cor. 
xiii. 4, 5, 7. xiv. 5, 7. xvi. 15—18. 2 Cor. viii. 16—24. Phil, 
ii. 19 — 30. Col. iv. 12. 5. Defending their character when it 
is unjustly attacted, 1 Sam. xxii. 14. 6. Readily receiving 
good reports concerning them, and aversion to hear that which 
tends to their dishonour, 1 Cor. xiii. 6, 7- Psalm xv. 3. 1 Sam. 
xxii. 14, 15. 7. Earnestly discouraging tale-bearers, back- 
biters, and slanderers, and labouring to bring them to due dis- 
grace and punishment, Psalm ci. 5. Prov. xxv. 23. 2 Cor. xii. 
20. 8. Watching over our neighbours, from true love to 
them, and issuing in proper advice, warning, or reproof to 
them, Lev. xix. 16, 17. Matth. xviii. 15 — 17. 1 Thess. v. 14. 

2 Thess. iii. 14. 

This commandment forbids, 1. Whatsoever is prejudicial to 
truth, 1. In judicial processes, uttered or done by parties, wit- 
nesses, advocates, or judges, Exod. xxiii. 1 — 7. Deut. xix. 15 
— 19. Lev. xix. 11 — 16. Prov. xix. 5, 9. xxv. 18. Isa. lix. 13 
— 15. Jer. ix. 3 — 6. Micahvii. 3. Mai. iii. 5. Falsehood and 
deceit in this case are peculiarly criminal, being committed 
in that judgment which belongs to God, before, or by judges 
sitting in his name and authority, as his deputies, and under 
the form of a solemn appeal to him, — and are peculiarly ruin- 
ous to the consciences and interests of mankind. Or, 2dly, In 
extrajudicial cases, as, 1. Unfaithfulness, paying no due regard 
to promises, — rashly making them, or entering into stations 
and relations which imply them, and want of due concern to 
remember and fulfil them, Rom. i. 31. 2 Tim. iii. 3. Jer. ix. 
3 — 6. Luke xvi. 10. Deut. xxxii. 20. 2. Undue silence when 
iniquity requires that we should reprove it ourselves, or com- 
plain of it to rulers, Lev. xix. 17. v. 1. Deut. xiii. 8. Mark 
viii. 38. Eph. v. 7, 11. Mat. xviii. 15 — 17. 3. Speaking truth, 



492 OF THE LAW OF GOD. 

unseasonably or maliciously, or perverting it to a wrong mean- 
ing, Eccl. iii. 7. Prov. xxix. 11. Psalm lii. 2 — 4. 1 Sam. xxii. 
8,9. Actsxvi. 16, 17. Matth. xxvi. 60, 67. 4. Equivocation, 
using words of a double signification, in a sense different from 
that in which we expect our neighbour will understand them ; 
and mental reservation, concealing some words in our mind 
which give our expressions a different meaning from .that 
which they appear to have, Gen. iii. 3,4. xx. 2, 12. xxvi. 6, 
7. 5. Hypocrisy or dissimulation, appearing to be and do that 
which we neither are nor do, Matth. xxiii. 13 — 30. Tit. i. 16- 
2 Tim. iii. 5. Isa. xxix. 13. ; to which may be reduced forgery 
of writs, counterfeiting of money, &c. 6. Simple falsehood, 
uttering that which is really false, but we believe to be true, 
Zech. viii. 16, 19. 7. Rash judging, affirming or denying 
facts without proper certaiuty, embellishing stories with cir- 
cumstances which are not founded on proper information, 
,1 Cor. xiii. 6. 8. Gross lying, uttering that which we know 
to be false, /with an intention to deceive our neighbour, Hos. 
iv. 2. Jer/ix. 3, 5. Isa. lix. 13. — All lying, whether in jest, 
Hos. vii. 3. ; for profit, Job xiii. 7. 2 Kings v. 22. Rom. iii. 
8. ; for concealment of guilt, Gen. xviii. 15. 2 Kings v. 25. 
Acts v. 3, 8. ; for preventing danger, Gen.xii. 11 — 13. xx. 2. 
xxvi. 7. Mark xiv. 68 — 71. ; or for doing mischief, Prov. vi. 
19. Jer. ix. 3. 5. Acts vi. 11, 13. xxiv. 5. Luke xxiii. 2.; or 
from mere rashness and custom, 2 Sam. xiii. 30. Psalm cxxix. 
29 — -and all deceit, are of the devil, John viii. 44. ; contrary 
to the nature of God, Deut. xxxii. 4. 1 Sam. xv. 29. ; and con- 
demned in his law, as abominable to him, and eternally ruin- 
ous to men, Psalm v. 4 — 6. Prov. vi. 17, 19. xiv. 5. xix. 5, 9. 
xxix. 12. Eph. iv. 25. Col. vi. 9. Rev- xxi. 8. xxii. 15. But 
concealing .hat which men have no call to reveal, figurati'e 
expressions, and changes of purpose or conduct, upon suffi- 
cient grounds, do not imply any deceit or falsehood, 1 Sam. 
xvi. 2,5. 2 Kings vi. 19. Jer. xxxviii. 24 — 27. John xv. 1. 
Song ii. 1 — 3. 1 Kings xviii. 27. xxii. 15. Eccl. xi. 9. Gen. 
xix. 2, 3. 2 Cor. i. 17. John iii. II. Whatsoever is injurious 
to our own good name. 1. In our heart, thinking too highly or 
too meanly of ourselves, reckoning ourselves less indebted to 
God for his gifts and graces, than we really are, Rom. xii. 16- 
Prov. xxv. 14. xxvi. 12, 16. Exod. iv. 10, 14. 2. In our 
xvords, unjustlv or unseasonably accusing ourselves, Prov. xxv. 
(j 16. Job xxvii. 5, 6. ; denying truth or affirming falseh©^*"5 
I* it urown favours, Prov. xxviii. 13. 1 Kings v. 25. Acts v. 8- Jp 
Gen. x" v ""'• 1^* ^ Sam. i. 10.; or boasting of ourselves in a vain- 
glorious" manner, Luke xviii. 11. Prov. xxv. 14. xxvii. 2. Luke 
xvi. 15. - 2 Ti m - iii. 2- 3. In our behaviour, — doing that which 
is sinful ojr ^mprudent,^- connecting ourselves with infamous 



OP THK LAW OF GOD. 493 

or carnal companions, — pushing ourselves into stations and cir- 
cumstances which we cannot behave to our own or the ho- 
nour of God, 1 Sam. ii. 24. Prov. v. 8, 9. 2 Kin^s viii. 13. 
III. Whatsoever is injurious to the good name oj our neighbour. 

1. In our heart, by unjust suspicions, evil surmising, 1 Tim. 
vi. 4.; uncharitable and rash judging, Mat. vii. 1 — 4. 1 Cor. 
xiii. 7. Acts xxviii. 4.; making ourselves a standard for judg- 
ing others, Rom. xiv. 3, 10.; judging their conscience, state, 
or intentions, as if we were God, Rom. xiv. 3 4. ; misinter- 
preting their purposes, words, or deeds, Nch. vi. 6. Rom. iii. 

8. Psalm lxix. 10.; secret contempt of them, 2 Sam. vi. 16. 
Luke xviii. 9 — 11.; envy of their just fame, Match, xxi. 15. 
Num. xi. 29. John iii. 26.; pleasure in cheir disgrace, Jer. 
xlviii 27.; or fond admiration of them, 1 Cor. iv. 6. Jude 16. 

2. In our speech, speaking truth in order to dishonour them, 
Luke xv. 2. Mark vi. 3.; unnecessarily divulging their infirmi- 
ties, Gen. ix. 22. ; aggravating their real faults, Matth. vii. 3 
— 5.; reviving the infamy of their former falls, of which they 
had repented, and which had been forgotten, 2 Sam. xvi. 7.; 
betraying their secrets, especially if some difference bt i ween 
them and us has happened, Prov. xvii. 9. xvi. 28. x. 12. xxv. 

9. 2 Tim. iii. 4.; attempting to undermine or diminibh their 
reputation, Ezra iv. 12, 13. Mat. xii. 22 — 24. ; raising, spread- 
ing, or receiving false reports concerning them, Exod. xxiii. 1. 
Neh. vi. 6. Psalm xv. 3. Jer. xviii. 18. xx. 20.; falsely slan- 
dering them, Psalm 1. 20. Heb. x. 33. Psalm xxii. 6. lxix. 7, 
20. xlii. 10.; false or malicious accusation of them to rulers, 
Luke xxiii. 2. Acts xxiv. 5. Jer. xxxviii. 4. ; backbiting, tear- 
ing, and undermining their character, in their absence, Rom. 
i. 29, 38. Psalm xxxv. 15, 16. xv. 3. lxix. 10 — 13. Prov. xxv. 
23. 2 Cor. xii. 20. ; tale bearing between different families or. 
persons, Lev. xix. 16. Prov. xi. 13. xx. 19. xviii. 8. xxvi. 20, 
22. 2 Thess. iii. 11. 1 Tim. v. 13.; encouraging tale-bearers, 
backbiters, and slanderers, at least in not bringing them to 
due disgrace and punishment, Prov. xxix. 12. xxv. 23. ; scorn- 
ful derision, Gal. iv. 29. Psalm xxii. 7, 8. xxxv. 16, 19. Job 
xxx. 9. Heb. xi. 36. ; reviling, calling bad names, Mat. v. 22. 
1 Cor. vi. 16*. v. 11.; passionate railing and brawling, Psalm 
Iii. 2, 4. lxiv. 3. Jer. ix. 23. Jude 9, 10. 1 Tim. iii. 3. 3. In 
our behaviour, by suspicious or contemptuous gestures, Psalm 
xxii. 7. Prov. vi. 12, 13. ; turning our back on them as infa- 
mous, without sufficient ground, Gal. ii. 12. 2 Tim. i. 15. iv. 
10- ; neglecting to warn and hinder them from what is sinful 
and imprudent; and by advice, encouragement, or example, 
drawing them into it, to the hurt of their character, 1 Sam. 
iii. 13. ii. 13. Ezek. xxxiii. 6, 8. IV. Whatsoever tends both 
to the injuring truth and our own and neighbour 's good name > 



494 OF THE LAW OV GOD. 

as, 1. An excessive-readiness to speak in company ; by which 
we manifest the frothiness and pride of our heart, and mark 
ourselves fools, Eccl. v. 2, 3. x. 14. Prov. jiiv. 23. x. 19. xii. 
23. xiii. 3, 6. xv. 2, 14. xvii. 27. xxix. 11, 20. 2. Idle talk, 
which has no tendency to promote any good end, either civil 
or religious, Mat. xii. 36. Eph. v. 4. 3. Inordinate jesting, 
Eph. v. 4. 4. Flattery, which includes much baseness, false- 
hood, deceit, and treachery in the giver; and marks much 
baseness and self-conceit in the receiver, Psalm xii. 3. xxxvL 
3. Acts xii. 22, 23. 

X. The Tenth Commandment, which respects the most 
inward dispositions of our heart, and is, as it were, a guard to 
the rest, particularly to those of the second table, reqjtires, 
I. A due weanedness of affection from every created enjoyment, 
Psalm cxxxi. 1,2.; having our heart habitually indifferent to- 
wards them, Luke xiv. 26. ; expecting nothing from them, but 
as God puts it into them, Psalm iv. 6, 7- Isa.lvii. 10. xvii. 10.; 
extracting our whole comfort from God himself amidst plenty 
as well as in poverty, Psalm xviii. 46. 1 Sam. ii. 1 — 10. Luke 
i. 47. Psalm cxlii. 4, 5. Hab. iii. 17, 18. ; using them all as fad- 
ing and transient, 1 Cor. vii. 29. ; and mortifying every degree 
of lustful desire after them, Matth. xxiv. 38. Luke xxi. 34. 
Gal. vi. 14. James iv. 4. 1 John ii. 16. II. Full contentment 
with that condition in which Godplac.es us with respect to gifts, 
graces, office, honour, wealth, pleasure, &c in this world, Heb. 
xiii. 5. 1 Tim. vi. 6. Phil. iv. 11. This contentment doth not 
exclude, but imply detestation of our sinfulness, — humbly be- 
wailing our distresses and wants, — and earnestness in all regu- 
lar endeavours to have our condition as comfortable as possible; 
■ — and it includes an hearty reconcilement to God's will, as the 
only and universal standard for regulating our lot, in its form 
and degree, Psalm xlvii. 4. 1 Tim. vi. 8, 9.; an absolute resig- 
nation, and entire submission to his will, as wise, holy, just, 
good, and very gracious, in all his providential disposals of us, 
or any thing belonging to us, — and hence, an inward easiness 
under his denials of outward comforts, and a satisfaction in our 
lot as good, very good, nay best for us, Matth. xvY 24. 1 Sam. 
iii. 18. Phil. iv. 6,11, 12. Mic. vii. 9. Psalm xxxix. 9. cxix. 
67, 71, 75. Lam. iii. 27—39- Job i. 21. ii. 10. Hab. iii. 17, 18. 
2 Cor. xii. 10. 2 Sam. xv. 25, 26. xvi. 10 — 12 — In order to 
attain this full contentment, we must, 1. Receive God in Christ, 
as the infinite origin and sum of all that good which can be 
found in creatures, for our only and eternal portion, and live 
daily upon him as such, Psalm lxxxi. 8 — 10. lxxiii. 23 — 26. 
cxlii. 4, 5. xvi. 5 — 11. xxiii. xviii. xci. cxvi. cxvii. cxviii. cxliv. 
cxlv. cxlvi. 2. Live in the believing consideration, that our 



OF THE LAW OF GOD. 495 

new-covenant God, Friend, Father, and Husband, is the maker 
and manager of all things, Job xxxiv. 33.; that he manages our 
lot in his infinite wisdom and love, Matth. x. 30. vi. 30. Isa. 
lii. 7. xlvi. 3,4. 2 Sam. xvi. 10 — 12. 1 Sim. iii, 18- Psalm 
xxxix. 9- Zech. xiii. 8, 9. iii. 9. Rom. viii.28 — 32. 2 Cor. iv. 
17- Deut. xxxii. 4. xxxiii. 26 — 29. Job xxxv. 14. Isa. xxx. 
18. 1. 10.; that we live on his mere grace and bounty, Gen. 
xxxii. 10. Lam. iii. 22. Isa. Ixiii. 7- xlvi. 3, 4. Psalm xxxvi. 
6, 7. ; that the wants and afflictions of our outward lot bid fair 
to be its most useful part to our soul, Lam. iii. 27, 29, 32, 33- 
2 Cor. iv. 17. Psalm cxix. 67, 71. Job xxxiii. 17 — 30. Isa. 
xxvii. 9. Ezek. xx. 37. Hos. ii. 6, 7, 14. v. 15. vi. 1, 2. Mic. 
vii. 14. Rev iii. 19. Heb. xii. 5 — 11. Prov. iii. 12. Psalm xciv. 
12. Job v. 17.; that earthly enjoyments are always very empty 
and often very hurtful, Eccl. l. — xii. i. 2, 14, 17. Prov. xxiii. 
5. i. 32. Deut. xxxii. 15. Hos. xiii. 6.; that our temptations, 
burdens, services, and final account, are proportioned to our 
enjo\mcnts, Matth. xxv. 15 — 30. Luke xix. 13 — 26. xii. 47* 
48. ; that Jesus Christ has marked and pathed our way through 
every trouble, and attends us, to bear, carry, and deliver us, 
Isa. Ixiii. 9. xlvi. 3, 4.; and that death and eternitv, in which 
earthly enjoyments can do us no service, and in which we shall 
reap the happy fruits of our troubles, are at hand, Matth. xvi. 
25. xix. 29. 2Tim.iv. 6— 8- Actsxiv. 22. John xvi. 33. Rom. 
viii. 17. 18, 37—39. 2 Cor. iv. 17, 18. 2 Tim. ii. 10—12. Rev. 
ii. 7, 17, 26. iii. 5, 12, 21. III. ft. right and charitable frame 
of spirit toward our neighbour, and all that is his — heartily loving 
his person for God's sake, Rom. xiii. 9, 10.; kindly regarding 
his property for his, and chiefly for God's sake, Deut. xxii. 1.; 
earnestly desiring and cordially delighting in his welfare, tem- 
poral, spiritual, or eternal, Rom. xii. 15. Heb. xiii. 3. Psalm 
xxxv. 13,14. P.iil. ii.4. IV. A perfectly holy frame of spirit, 
Rom. vii. 7. 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. Lev. xi. 44. Matth. v. 48. xxii. 
37, 39. 

This commandment forbids, I. All discontentment with oar 
07vn condition, which includes in it inward rebellion against God's 
providential will, Hos. iv. 16. xiii. 6. ; fretfulness or grief at his 
disposal of our lot, 1 Kings xxi. 4. 2 Cor. vii. 10.; inward dis- 
pleasure against that form or condition which he has allotted to 
us, Job xviii. 4.; inward blasphemy against him, as if he had 
been guilty of injustice or cruelty in ordering our lot, Job ix. 
17, 18. x. 16. xxx. 12. II. Envy, grief, and fretfulness, on 
account of the advantages of our neighbour, in gifts, graces, 
relations, wealth, honour, pleasure, Job v. 2. John iii. 26. 
1 Cor. xiii. 4. Psalm xxxvii. 1, 7, 8. James iii. 14, 16. Jer. xii. 
1. Psal. lxxiii. 2—15. Eph. iv. 4, 5, 11. Gal. v. 21, 26. Prov. 
iii- 31. xxiv. 1, 19. III. Caveteusness of created enjoyments, 



496 OP THE LAW OF GOD. 

1. In inordinate lusting after those things which we possess, 
having our heart fixed on chem, Col. iii. 5. Luke xiv. 18 — 21. 
xii. 21. ; and hence desiring them for themselves, for a wrong 
end, or as our chief good, James iv. 3 — 5.; using them with too 
much avidity, without regard to necessity or expedience, as if 
we were under their power, 1 Cor. vi. 12. ; or to the hurt of our 
soul, and the dishonour of God, James iv. 3, 4. 1 Cor. x. 31. 
Hos. x. 4. 2. In lusting after that which belongs to our neigh- 
bour; desiring that which God has put out of our power, 
2 Sam. xxiii. 15. Josh. vii. 21. ; desiring that which is attain- 
able by lawful means, by such as are unlawful, or for an unlaw- 
ful end, Jam. iv. 3. 1 Kings xxi. 2 — 15. Jer. xvii. 11. Job xvii. 
10 — 18. ; or desiring them so violently as disturbs our mind till 
we enjoy them, and renders us fretful if we must want them, 
Gen. xxx. 1. 1 Kings xxi. 4. Psalm iv. 6. xvii. 14. 1 Tim.vi. 
9, 10. IV. The corrupt frame of our fallen nature, from which 
these sinful lustings proceed. This evil concupiscence may be 
considered, 1. As existing in our heart, but not consented to, 
Rom. vii. 14 — 24. 2. As consented to in itself, but not in the 
execution of its desires, Matth. v. 28. Eccl. vi. 9. 3. As con- 
ceiving, contriving, and bringing forth actual sin, in thoughts, 
words, and deeds, James i. 15. Matth. xv. 19. Mark vii. 21, 
22. 4. As having brought forth contrived acts of wickedness to 
the very point of execution, 1 Sam. xxiii. 26. Esth. iii. v. vi. 
Acts xvi. 27. xxi. 31, 32. xxiii. 10, 12 — 24. 

Reelect. Pause now, my soul ! How holy must God the 
giver of this law be, with whom I have to do ! How awfully 
strict and extensive that standard, by which he will judge me, 
and fix my eternal state ! — How inexpressibly guilty before 
God must I now be, who have so long, in so many forms, and 
in so aggravated a manner, broken all these commandments ! — 
How infinitely horrid, abominable, and criminal must sin be, 
which is in opposition to the law of God, so holy, just, and good! 
— How absolutely necessary the righteousness of God in our 
nature, as our Surety, to justify us, who are sinful men, before 
God ! And what an unbounded mercy, to be justified from all 
the charges of this law, and to be, to its inexpressible honour, 
adjudged to everlasting happiness ? And how important that in- 
ward change of nature, in which God writes his law on our 
heart ! How base the traitors, that would improve Jesus's 
righteousness as a reason of trampling this law under their 
foot !— But what knows my conscience of its power, in driving 
me to Christ, or directing me to improve his righteousness, his 
grace and glory ?-— Is it the object of my dearest affection,--- 
my delightful meditation all the day ? And, all washed in 



OF THE LAW OF GO 497 

Jesus's blood, and animated by his redeeming love, do I daily- 
run in the way of all those commandments i 

III. The ten commandments, above explained, may be view*- 
ed in a threefold form: I. As a Laxv of Nuture antecedent to, 
and disengaged from any covenant-transaction between God and 
us. In this form, 1. God, as a Creator and absolute Sovereign, 
imposed it. 2. It was written upon man's heart in his creation, 
—it, and full power to fulfil it, being included in the instant ped 
image of God the Lawgiver, Gen. i. 26, 27. Eccl. vii. 29. 3. It 
contained no positive precept, but obliged all its subjects to be- 
lieve every thing which God should reveal, and perform every 
thing that he should command, Deut. xii. 32. 4. Its subjects 
not being confirmed in holiness of heart and life, it implied a 
sanction 1 of infinite punishment to every transgressor, as the due- 
reward of his sin, Rom. vi. 23. 5. The most perfect obedience 
of innocent men, having no proper merit before God, especially 
of eternal happiness, it implied no promise of any such reward,,- 
or that men should ever be confirmed under it as an easy and 
delightful rule of lift; Job xxii. 23. Rom. vi. 23. 6. It did nor 
admit of God's accepting any thing less than perfect obedience, 
Ezek. xviii. 4. Rom.'vi. 23. 7. All men, as rational creatures^ 
were subject to it, Rom. ii. 14, 15. II. As a Covenant of Works. 
In this form, 1. An absolute God, condescending to friendship,, 
makes alliance and familiarity with holy and perfect man, was 
the imposer of it, Gen. ii. 17- 2. It included not only all the 
commands of the law of nature, but also some positive institu- 
tions, Gen. ii. 16, 17. 3. It not only denounced infinite punish- 
ment against every transgressor of it, Gal. iii. 10. Deut. xxvii, 
26. Ezek. xviii. 4. ; but also promised eternal happiness to the 
perfect fulfiller of it, Matth. xix. 17. Gal. iii. 12. Rom. x. 5, 
4. It binds mankind, not only as authoritatively imposed by 
God their sovereign, but also as accepted by themselves, in their 
own self-engagement to fulfil it. S. The original scope and 
end of it was, that man might obtain eternal life by his own 
obedience, as its condition, Rom. vii. 10. viii. 3. x. 5. 6. As 
it admits not of God's accepting any obedience but that which 
is absolutely perfect, answerable to ail its demands, Gal. iiu 
10, 12. ; so the accepting the fulfiller's person depended on the 
accepting his obedience, Matth. xix. 17. v. 18. Rom. x. 5* 
7. In consequence of God's making this law-covenant with 
Adam, all his natural descendants, while in their natural state, 
are under it before God, even though, as hearers of the gospel,, 
they be under the external dispensation of the covenant of grace, 
Eph. ii. 3. Rom. ix. 30—32. But all true believers being united- 
to Jesus Christ, who, as their Surety, fulfilled it for them, are - 
perfectly delivered from it, and dead to it j sothat their sinsnc» 

3 U 



498 OF THE LAW OF (;OT>. 

longer condemn them to endure God's revenging wrath, or 
their holy qualities or works in the least entitle them to eternal 
happiness, Rom. vi. 14. vii. 4. viii. 1 — 4, 33, 34. Gal. ii. 19 — 21. 
iii. 13. iv. 4, 5. v. 18. Phil. iii. 9. 1 Tim. i. 9. III. As the law 
of Christ, or rule of life. In this form, 1. It has the whole au- 
thority of God as a Creator and Sovereign, as well as a Re- 
deemer, giving to it binding force. His nature being absolutely 
irreconcileable to every thing sinful, his law, as a transcript of 
his holiness, must still retain its original obligation, 1 Pet. i. 
15, 16. Lev. xi. 44. Matth. v. 48. 2. It proceeds immediately 
from Jesus Christ, God-man Mediator, and from God, as our 
Creator and Sovereign, as reconciled and dwelling in him, 
1 Cor. ix. 21. Gal. vi. 2. 2 Cor. v. 19 — 21. 3. Its precepts 
are the very same with those of the covenant of works, and de- 
mand the same perfection of obedience, Matth. xxii. 36, 37. 
v. 48. 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. Phil. iv. 8. 4. The subjects of it be- 
ing fully and irrevocably instated in the favour of God, and en- 
titled to eternal life in Christ, it has no sanction of judicial re- 
wards or punishments, 1 John iii. 14. John v. 24. Rom. v. 21. 
viii. 1, 33,34. But while their condition, temper, and practice 
are changeable, it is enforced with a sanction of gracious re- 
wards, of much freedom from spiritual distress, and much com- 
fortable fellowship with God, and correspondent degrees of 
glory annexed to their obedience, — and of fatherly chastisment 
annexed to their disobedience, Psalm xix. 11. Isa. lxiv. 5. iii. 
10. 2 Cor. i. 12. 1 Cor. xv. 58. 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. 1 Tim. iv. 8. 
Heb. x. 35. xii. 6 — 11. Rev. iii. 19. Psalm lxxxix. 30 — 34. 
xcix. 8. ; — which sanction corresponds with the spiritual condi- 
tion of believers, and is founded on their happy new-covenant 
state. 5. God's end in giving the law as a rule of life, is not 
that men, by their obedience to it, may procure his favour as a 
Judge, and a title to eternal life ; but to diiect, bind, and ex- 
cite believers in Christ to improve their full and irrevocable jus- 
tification, and begun possession of eternal life, in cordial grati- 
tude to him, and preparation for complete salvation; so that 
their obedience, in its highest view, is a part of their happiness 
here, as well as it will be in heaven, Psalm cxvi. 16. Luke i. 
74, 75. Rom. vii. 4, 6. Gal. ii. 19. Heb. xii. 28. Tit. ii. 14. 
1 Pet. ii. 9. 6. It supposes all its subjects to have already full 
strength, motives, and encouragements in Christ : and though 
it require perfect obedience, it admits of God's accepting our 
imperfect obedience of faith, not to found any acceptance of our 
persons, but as a fruit of their being united to, and fully ac- 
cepted in Christ, Eph. i. 6. 1 Cor. xv. 58. Heb. xiii. 16. 1 Pet. 
ii. 5. Rom. xii. 1. 1 Thess. iv. 1. 7- All believers, and they 
only, are the subjects of this law of Christ, 1 Cor. ix. 21. GaL 
vi. 2. It binds them as much under the gospel, as before Christ 



OF THE LAW OF GOD. 499 

and his apostles inculcated it with additional enforcements, 
Matth. v.— vii. xxii. 37—40. Rom. xii — xv. Eph. iv — vi. 
Col. iii. iv. 1 Thess. iv. v. Tit. ii. iii. Heb. x — xiii. Jam. i. to 
Rev. iii. Their relation to Christ, and to God in him, as their 
Husband, Father, Friend, and Pattern, requires its continued 
obligation, Gal. ii. 19, 20. 1 Pet ii. 4, 5, 9. Matth. xxviii. 20. 
v. 44, 48. All their new -covenant blessings of union with 
Christ, justification, adoption, regeneration, sanctification. spi- 
ritual comfort, and eternal glorification, require their continued 
subjection to it, Rom. vii. 4, 6. 2 Cor. vi. 18. vii. 1. Tit. ii. 
11 — 14. iii. 8, 14. Psalm cxvi. 16. cxix. 32, 160. Phil. ii. 12, 
13 — 16. 1 Pet. i. 13 — 16. ii. 5, 9. Gal. v. 24, 25. Heb. xii. 1, 
2, 14, 28. Gal. vi. 7, 8. Rom. viii. 23. Phil. iii. 14, 20, 21. 

IV. In one or more of these different forms, the moral law is 
of use, I. To all men in general. 1. To teach them their duty 
to God, to themselves, and to their neighbours ; and to bind 
them to it by his infinite authority, Mic. vi. 8. 2. To discover 
to them the holiness, equity, and goodness of his nature and 
work, Rom. vii. 12. 3. To restrain them from sin, and to en- 
courage them to virtue, as even the approaches to it, and re- 
semblances of it, are rewarded with freedom from temporal 
miseries, and with temnoral felicity, or non-infliction of the 
greater punishments in hell. Psalm xix. 11. Ezek. xviii. Isa. i. 
13. Deut. iv. — xxx. 4. To convince them of their sinfulness 
and misery on account of it, and of their utter inability to re- 
cover themselves by keeping the commandments, Rom. iii 19, 
20. vii. 8 — 13. 5. To shew them their need of Christ, his 
righteousness and grace, and to stir them up to apply them to 
their soul, Gal. iii. 24. II. It is of use to unregenerate men, 
1. To convince and awaken their conscience, Rom. iii. 19, 20. 
vii. 9. Gal. ii. 19. 2. To denounce the wrath of God against 
their sin, and thus affect them with a deep sense of it, Rom. iii- 
19. ii. 8, 9. vi. 19, 23. 3. To bridle the rage of their lusts, 
1 Tim. i. 9. 4. To drive them, as convinced of their sinful- 
ness, misery, and self-irrecoverableness, to Jesus Christ, as their 
almighty Saviour, Gal. iii. 24. Rom. x. 4. 5. To fix upon 
their conscience a deep sense of their having those very charac- 
ters of sinfulness and misery by which men are particularly in- 
vited to receive Christ and his salvation, t Tim. i. 15. Isa. xlvi. 
12. i. 18. Iv. 2, 7. lxv. 1, 2. Matth. ix. 13. xviii. 11. xi. 28. 
Prov. i. 22. ix. 4. Jer. iii. 1, 4, 5. 6. To consign them to re- 
doubled damnation, if they reject him, John iii. 18, 36. Heb. 
ii. 3. x. 26 — 31. Matth. xi. 20 — 24. III. It is of use to be- 
lievers, 1. To shew them what Christ, from love to their souls, 
did and suffered in their stead, Gal. iv. 4, 5. iii. 13. Rom. viii. 
9, 4. 2. To shew them their inexpressible deficiency in hoU- 



500 <JF THE GOSPEL. 

ness, in order to humble them, cause them to renounce their 
own righteousness, and rely wholly on Christ, and to make 
them long for heaven, Phil. iii. 8, 9. i. 23. Rom. vii. 24. 2 Cor. 
v. 4. 3. To instruct them what grateful service they owe to 
Christ and his Father, and what perfection of holiness they 
ought always to aim at, Phil. iii. 12 — 14. 1 Tim. i. 5. 2 Cor. 
vii. 1. 1 Pet. i, 13—16. 2 Pet. i. 4—8. Matth. v. 48. 4. To 
attest the truth of their begun sanctification, and to comfort 
them as Israelites indeed, who walk in the law of the Lord af- 
ther their inward man of implanted grace, 2 Cor. i. 12. 

Reflect. Study carefully, O my soul, the wide, but little 
perceived difftrence between the law of God, as a covenant, and 
as a rule aflife in the hand of Christ. Without distinct expe- 
rimental knowledge of this, I can neither rightly discern nor 
practise the truth as it is in Jesus — What powerful experience 
have I had of these several uses of the holy law ? — God forbid 
that I should preach it up, so as to render it a source and seal 
of eternal damnation to myself and others. 



CHAP. II. 



Of the Gospel in its Matter, Use, Difference front} 
and Connection with the Law. 

BY the Gospel in Scripture is meant, either the whole sys- 
tem of God's revealed truth, Mark i. 14. ; or the history of 
Christ's birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, Mark i. 
3. j or the New-Testament dispensation of the covenant of 
grace, 2 Tim. i. 10.; or the preaching of God's truth, particu- 
larly his free offers of Christ, and salvation through him, 1 Cor. 
ix- 14. But, strictly taken, the gospel denotes the glad tidings of 
life, of full and free salvation through Christ to sinful men, Mat. 
xi. 5. Luke ii. 10, 11. Nothing can more justly be called gos- 
pel, i. e. good news, or a gladdening message, than God's free 
and earnest offers of righteousness, pardon, and acceptance to 
guilty sinners, adoption to heirs of wraih, 6anctincation to men 
dead and defiled in sins, redemption to the most miserable and 
enslaved, and salvation to the lost, — gifts to the rebellious, that 
God may dwell among them, 1 Cor. i. 30. Acts v. 31. Luke 
xix. 10. Psalm Ixviii. 18. It is in connection with this view, 
that the history of Christ's life is called the Gospel, because it 
declares how he, being the Son of God, was made of a woman, 
■was made under the law, obeyed and suffered in our stead, in 
order to purchase salvation for us, and has ascended to heaven, 
in order to procure and apply it to us. The general dispensa- 



OF THE GOSPEL. 501 

tion of God's revealed truth is called Gospel, as it is wholly cal- 
culated to drive, direct, or draw us to Jesus Christ, as made of 
God to us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemp- 
tion The New- Testament dispensation is called Gospel, be- 
cause the glad tidings of salvation through Christ are therein 
more fully, clearly, extensively, and powerfully held forth and 
applied to sinful men, Mark xvi. 15. Rom. xv. 19. 

I. The gospel, strictly taken, includes, 1. God's doctrinal de- 
clarations concerning the salvation of men, — concerning his pur- 
pose of election, and the covenant of grace, in its origin, parties, 
making, parts, administrations, — and concerning the mediator 
of it in his person, offices, and states, and concerning the bless- 
ings of it, union with Christ, justification, adoption, sanctifica- 
tion, spiritual comfort, and eternal glory, Rom. i — xi. Gal. ii. 
— v. Eph. i — v. Col. i. — iii. Phil. ii. 6 — 11. 1 Tim. iii. 16. Isa. 
xl — Ixvi. &c. and that whether these declarations be plain or 
figurative, Exod. xii. xiv. xvi. xvii. xxiv — xxx. Lev. i. — xvi. 
xxiii. xxv. xxvii. Num. xv. xvii. xix. xxviii. Heb- iii. — x. Gal. 
iii. 8. Heb. iv. 2. 2. God's candid and earnest offers of Jesus 
Christ, in his person, offices, relations, and fulness, and of him- 
self in him, as an absolutely free gift bequeathed to sinful men 
in his new covenant promises, John iii. 16. Isa. xlii. 6, 7. Iv. 4. 
Jer. iii. 19. xxxi.31 — 34. xxxii. 38 — 41. Ezek. xi. 19,20. xxxvi. 
25 — 32. 3. His affectionate invitations, in which he calls and 
earnesdy entreats men, under their manifold wretched charac- 
ters, to receive that which he offers to them, upon the foot of 
his free grant of it, and to apply it to themselves in particular, 
Psalm xxxiv. 8. lxxxi. 8, 10. Prov. i. 22, 23. viii. 4. ix. 4, 5> 
xxiii. 26. Zech. ix. 12. Mat. ix. 13. Isa. i. 18. xlv. 22. xliv. 22. 
xlvi. 12, 13. Iv. 1—3, 6, 7. Jer. iii. 1, 4, 14, 22. Hos. xiv. 1. 
Ezek. xxxiii. 11. Mat. xi. 28 — 30. John vi. 37. vii. 37—39. 
2 Cor. v. 19, 20, 21. Rev. iii. 17, 18, 20. xxii. 17— These in- 
vitations, in so far as they demand our performance of our du- 
ty, are reducible to the law as extended upon the foundation of 
the offers of the gospel, 1 John iii. 23. John vi. 29.; but, in so 
far as they hold forth God's willingness, readiness, and earnest- 
ness to bestow his salvation upon sinful men, and warrant them 
to receive it to themselves, they belong to the gospel. Not- 
withstanding they are distinguishable, these declarations, offers, 
and invitations of the gospel are often contained in the same 
sentence of Scripture, and ought never to be separated. We 
never rightly believe any doctrinal declaration of the gospel, 
unless we, in that very act, receive the good offered, as invited 
to do so by God himself. 

II. The use, therefore, of these declarations, offers, and in- 
vitations, is, 1. To make known Christ in his person, oifices^ 



*02 OF THE GOSPEL. 

work, and fulness, and God as reconciled in him, 1 Cor. ii. 2. 
i. 24. 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4, 6. v. 18—21. 1 Tim. iii. 16. 2. To pre- 
sent and offer Christ and his fulness to men, and affectionately 
call and urge them to fellowship with him, 1 Cor. i. 9. Prov. 
jx. 4, 5. Isa. xlv. 22. Iv. 1—3, 6, 7- 3. To be God's mean of 
effectually conveying Christ and his fulness into our heart, for 
the changing our state and nature, Psalm ex. 2, 3. 1 Cor. i. 30. 
2 Cor. v- 17. 4. To be God's mean of further applying Christ 
and his fulness to our renewed heart, for carrying on and com- 
pleting our holiness and comfort, John i. 14, 16. xx. 31. Psalm 
xxvii. 13, 14. Gal. ii. 20. Eph. iii. 17— 19. ii. 20— 22. 5. As 
a mean of enlarging the knowledge, softening the tempers, and 
reforming the outward practice of many reprobates, in order to 
render them useful to the elect, Heb. vi. 4, 5. 2 Pet. ii. 20. Mat. 
xiii. 19 — 22. Phil. i. 15—18. Num. xxiii. xxiv. 

III. The gospel, strictly taken, differs from the law, in that, 

1. The law considers us as God's rational creatures and sub- 
jects, who were originally formed with sufficient abilities per- 
fectly to obey it, and hence directs and binds us to have such 
abilities, and to exercise them in a proper manner towards God, 
ourselves, and our neighbours, as our duty, Mat. xxii. 37 — 39. ; 
but the gospel considers us as sinful and self-ruined men, graci- 
ously pitied by God, and declarers what he, according to his in- 
finite mercy and grace, has done, prepared for, and offers to be, 
and to do and for us, Isa. xlii. 6, 7. xlix. liii. liv. Iv. Psalm 
xxii. lxviii. lxxii. cxlvi. Hence its offers and invitations conti- 
nue to believers while their sinfulness remains, and no longer. 

2. In every essential point the law flows from the very nature 
of God ; but the gospel, both in its matter and manifestation, 
flows from his sovereign mercy, grace, or good will, — the out- 
goings of his mercy in the redemption of men, being no mire 
necessary than the exertion of his wisdom and power in the 
creation of all things, Eph. i. 3 — 8. ii. 4 — 9. Tit. iii. 4, 5. Rom. 
v. 20, 21. 3. The law represents God's blessings as bestowed 
upon men as good and obedient, Gal. iii. 12. Rom. x- 5. Psalm 
xix. 11. Isa. iii. 10. i. 19. ; but the gospel represents blessings as 
bestowed upon men, as in themselves guilty and sinful, Rom. v. 
5 — 10, 20, 21. Isa. xlvi. 12, 13. xliii. 24, 25. Iv. 2, 7. i. 18. 
xliv. 22. Jer. iii. 4, 14, 19, 22. Psalm lxviii. 18. Ezek. xxxvi. 
25, 26, 27, 31. Hos. xiii. 9. Mat. ix. 13. xviii. 11. Luke xv. 19, 
20. 1 Tim. i. 15. 

IV. The harmony of the law and gospel is their suitableness 
and subserviency to each other : the gospel promises, offers, and 
gives to sinful men everything which the law, in any form, de- 
mands of them. It provides them with the righteousness of the 



OF THE GOSPEL: 



508 



Son of God, which answers and magnifies all the demands of 
the law, as a broken covenant: and lays an effectual foundation 
of universal, and at last perfect obedience to it, as a rule. Nay, 
it promises preparation for, assistance in, and a gracious reward 
of every duty which the law, as a rule, requires, as the following 
and many other texts, if carefully compared, will sufficiently 
evince : 

Gospel. 



Law. 
Lev. xi. 4 k xx. 7 
15, 16. Mat. v. 48. 



1 Pet. i. 



Ezek. xviii. 31. Jer. iv. 4. 
Rom. xii. 1, 2. Col. iii. 9, 10. 

Isa. i. 16. Jam. iv. 8. Jer. iv. 
14. 2 Cor. vii. 1. 

Deut. xii. 32. James i. 19. 
Jer. vii. 23 Exod. xxiii. 21. 
Mat. xxviii. 20. 

Exod. xx. 3. 1 John v. 21. 
1 Cor. x. 7. Mat. iv. 10. 



1 Chron. xxviii. 9. John v. 
39. 2 Pet. iii. 18- Isa. i. 17. 

2 Chron. xx- 20. Isa. xxvi. 
4. Acts xvi. 31. 1 John iii. 23. 
John xiv. 1. 

Isa. i. 16, 17. Iv. 7. Jer. vi. 
8. vii. 3. Luke xiii. 3, 5- Rev. 
iii. 19. 

Jer. iii. 14, 22. Hos. xiv. 1. 
Isa. xliv. 22. Ezek. xxxiii. 11. 
xviiii. 30. 

James iv. 10. 1 Pet. v. 5, 6. 
Jer. xiii. 8. 

James iv. 8. Psal. 1. 15. Isa. 
Iv. 6. Amos v. 8. Psalm cv. 4. 
Mat. vii. 7. 

1 Cor. xvi. 13. Eph. vi. 10. 
2 Tim. ii. 1. 
&c. Sec. ike 



Lev. xx. 8. xxi. 23. xxii, 
32. Isa. xxix. 23. Ixii. 12. Heb. 
ix. 14. xiii. 12. Ez< k. xxxvii. 
38. 1 Thess. v. 23. 

Ezek.xi. 19. xxxvi. 26. Jer. 
xxiv. 7. xxxii. 39, 40. 2 Cor. v. 
17. Rev. xxi. 5. Deut. xxx. 6. 

Ezek. xxxvi. 25, 29. Zech. 
xiii. 1. Joel :ii. 21. Isa. iv. 3, 4. 

Ezek. xxxvi. 27. xi. 20. 
Psalm ex. 3. Jer. xxxi. 33. 
xxxii. 39, 40. 

Exod. xx. 2. Psal. i. 7. lxxxi. 
8- Jer. xxx. 22. xxxi .33. xxxii . 
38. xxiv. 7. Ezek. xxxvii. 23, 
28. Zech. viii. 8. xiii. 9. 

Isa. xlviii. 17. liv. 13. xxix. 
24. Jer. xxxi. 34. 2 Cor. iv. 6. 

Isa. xi. 10. Rom. xv. 12. 
Zeph. iii. 12. Psalm xxii. 27, 
31 John vi. 37. Phil. i. 29. 
2 Pet. i. 1. John v. 25. 

Zech. xii. 10. Ezek. xvi. 63. 
xxxvi. 31. Acts v. 31. Hos. 
xiv. 8. 

Isa. x. 21. Psalm lxviii. 22, 
Isa. xxvii. 13, 14. 

Isa. ii. 11, 17. Ezek. xvi. 63. 
xxxvi. 31. Zeph. iii. 11. 

Psal.xci. 15. lxv. 2,4. Zech. 
xii. 10. Isa. lviii. 9. lxv. 24. 



Isa. xii. 10, 14. 
Zech. x. 12. 
&c. &c &c 



xl. 



29, 31, 



The law, as a covenant, is subservient to the gospel, 1. As a 
glass to shew us our sinfulness and misery, and thus our need 



504 OP THE GOSPEt, 

of Christ and his salvation offered in the gospel, Horn. iii. 19,- 
20. vii. 9. 2. As an infallible witness that we have in us 
these very ignominious and wretched characters with which the 
promises, offers, and invitations of the gospel do correspond, 
and to which they are directed, Rom. v. 20, 21. iii. 9 — 18. i. 
28—32. Rev. iii. 17, 18- Prov. i. 22. ix. 4. Isa. i. 18. xliii. 24, 
2J. xlvi. 12, 13. lv. 2, 7. lxv. 1, 2. Jer. iii. 1, 4, 5, 19. Hos. 
xiii. 9. xiv. 1. Zech. ix. 12. Mat. ix. 13. xi. 28. xxii. 9. Luke 
xiv. 23. xix. 10. 3. As a scourge to lash our conscience with 
charges of guilt and threatenings of wrath, in order to drive us 
out of all lying refuges to Christ alone for righteousness and 
salvation, Rom. vii. 7 — 13. Gal. iii. 24. 4. Asa tremendou3 
charge by God immediately to receive Christ and his salvation 
offered to us in the gospel, — as a necessary and principal part of 
that obedience which we owe to him as our Sovereign, whose 
declarations we ought to believe, and whose gifts we ought to 
receive, — and as the only method of affording full satisfaction 
to all its infinite demands, — and as a leading exercise of love to 
ourselves, John iii. 18. 1 John iii. 23. Rom. x. 3, 4. vii. 4. viii, 
3,4. 5. As an awful commentary upon the mysteries of the 
gospel, which indirectly manifests the amazing nature of God'? 
redeeming love, the tremendous price of our redemption, and 
the astonishing happiness of those that are redeemed from un- 
der the law to God, 1 John iv. 9, 10. Mat. iii. 15. xx. 28. Luke 
xxiv. 26. Gal. iii. 10, 12, 13. iv. 4, 5, 6. Heb. xii. 18—24. Dan. 
ix. 24. 6. As an infallible, a divine security for the eternal 
happiness of those that are made fulfillers of it in Christ, Rom 
viii. 1 — 4, 32 — 34. v. 19, 21. 7- In revenging the indignity 
done to itself, in men's obtruding upon it their own abominable 
self-righteousness, instead of the law-magnifying obedience and 
sufferings of Christ, it terribly punishes the indignity and in- 
jury they did to the gospel, and all the redeeming blood and 
grace of God in it, by their unbelieving rejection of its offers, 
Mai. i. 13, 14. Heb. ii. 3. x. 26—29. xii. 25. John iii. 18, 36. 
Mark xvi. 16.— —As a rule of life in the hand of Christ, the law 
is subservient to the gospel, 1. As an exciter of believers, obe- 
dientially to receive more of the gracious privileges of the gospel 
to qualify them for more full and lively obedience to this law, 
2 Pet. iii. 18. i. 4 — 8. Eph. vi. 10. 2 Tim. ii. 1. 2. As an in- 
structing charge from Christ to improve the abundant grace of 
the gospel to its honour, Tit. ii. 10. Phil. i. 27. ii. 15, 16. 
3. God's impression of it on our heart being a blessing of the 
gospel, makes us relish, desire, and rest satisfied with the 
other pure and spiritual blessings of it, 1 Cor. ix. 21. Jer. xxxi. 
S3. 4. As a glass it shews us the nature of that God, and of 
that holiness which the gospel promises and gives to us as our 
eternal happiness, 1 Pet. i. 15, 16. Mat. v. 48. Eph. iv. 32. v 



I 



OF THE GOSPEL. 505 

1, 2. 1 John iv. 8, 16, 19. — Thus the law of God as a covenant, 
and as a rule, turns every way to drive, shut up,or allure men to 
the gospel, and to Christ, and his righteousness and grace in it. 

On the other hand, the gospel marvellously promotes the 
honour of the law as a covenant. 1. Its representations of 
Christ, and his undertaking and righteousness, is a delightful 
commentary upon its tremendous requirements, Rom* viii. 3, 
4. x. 4. Dan. ix. 24. Isa. xlii. 21. 2. It presents in Christ 
the most clear and persuasive proof of its infinite importance 
and infallible stability, Gal. iv. 4, 5. Mat. iii. 15. v. 17, 18. 
xx. 28. Luke xxiv. 26. 3. It presents and offers to us a 
righteousness proper to be presented to us by this law, as an 
infinitely high and honourable satisfaction to all its demands 
on us, Rom. iii. 21, 22, 24 — 26, 31. 2 Cor. v. 21. Isa. xlii. 
21. xlv. 24, 25. liv. 17. Jer. xxiii. 6. xxxiii. 16. — It promotes 
the honour of the law as a rule, in that, 1. It presents, offers, 
and conveys to us every thing relative to example, motive, 
endowment, assistance, or reward, which can promote obe- 
dience to it in heart or in life, Eph. v. 2. 1 John iv. 9, 10, 19. 
Hos. it. 19, 20. Rom. vii.4. vi. 14. viii. 4. Ezek. xxxvi. 15— 
27. Phil. ii. 12, 13. Zech. x. 12. 1 Cor. xv. 58. Heb. xii. 28. 

2. By the powerful influence of the gospel, the law, as a 
rule, is written on our heart, Heb. viii. 10 — 12. Jer. xxxi. 
31, 33. 

To illustrate the subservience of the gospel to the moral 
law as a rule of life, the powerful influence of its evangelical 
preface, lam the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the 
land of Egypt, &c. in enforcing obedience to all its command- 
ments, may be considered. Here all our holy obedience is 
founded upon the lawgiver, being Jehovah, and our God, and 
Redeemer. His character Jehovah represents him as neces- 
sarily existent as to himself and every thing else ; all-sufficient 
as the Author of all created being, chiefly of the fulfilment of 
promises. His being Jehovah, our God, imports, that he, in 
all his fulness and glory, is offered and conveyed to us in the 
gospel, in all the different relations of Father, Husband, Mas- 
ter, Portion, &c And it is observable, that in the law given 
at Sinai, this grant of himself as Jehovah our God is five times 
repeated, Exod. xx. 2, 5, 7, 10, 12. — His typical representa- 
tion of himself as our Redeemer, presents to us our eternal 
redemption in its price, and in its several benefits of union 
with Christ, justification, adoption, sanctification, spiritual 
comfort, and everlasting happiness. All these in the most de- 
lightful manner enforce obedience to every table, — to every 
command. 

If he be Jehovah, what an infinitely excellent object must 
he be, of all that love which is demanded for him by the first 

3 X 



506 OF THE GOSPEL. 

table! Mark xii. 30,33. What an all-sufficient, all-compre- 
hensive, infinite sum of every thing lovely ! — if he be Jehovah 
connected with us in every delightful new-covenant relation; — 
if he gave, and was the price of our eternal redemption, what 
an infinitely strong reason for, and engaging pattern of super- 
lative love to himself, is he ! — If, in Christ, we receive such 
rich and inestimable benefits, how powerfully they demand 
that we should love God in Christ, and for him, and as Christ 
loved him, and answerably to the manifestation of his perfec- 
tions in these benefits, and answerably to the relations into 
which they bring us to God ! 

They no less powerfully enforce love to ourselves and to 
our neighbour, in obedience to the second table. If the Law- 
giver be Jeuovaii, infinitely glorious and worthy of our su- 
perlative love, his creatures ought to be loved in proportion to 
their excellency. If he be the author of their being, he ought 
to be loved in them as his offspring, and they loved for his 
sake, in proportion to their resemblance of him. If he, in in- 
finite kindness, gave men their being, — how becoming to ren- 
der that being as happy as possible. — and, as his joint progeny, 
to live joined in love to him, and to each other ! — If, in his 
new covenant of grace, he has connected himself with us in 
so many delightful relations, and acts according to them,— 
■why, by our inhuman behaviour, condemn his infinitely gra- 
cious example, and refuse to extend our goodness to his re- 
presentatives, and especially his darling saints on earth, Psalm 
xvi. 2,3. 1 Pet. iii. 8. iv. 8. Rom. xii. — xv. Eph.v. vi. Col. 
iii. iv. ? — If in Jesus' payment of the infinite price of our re- 
demption, he gave us the most engaging exnmple of, and mo- 
tive to the most disinterested love to mankind, John xiii. 14. 
xv. 12. Eph. v. 2. If it was paid, and is applied in order to 
promote our loving men as well as God, why should we not 
be powerfully constrained by its influence ? — If we be united 
to Christ, why should not the same spirit and mind be in us 
that was and is in him, Eph. iv. 21. Phil. ii. 5. 1 Pet. ii. 21.? 
If, notwithstanding our unnumbered and high provocations, 
we be justified freely by his grace, why not love and shew 
kindness to our brethren that injure us, especially if they ap- 
pear to have received forgiveness from God, Eph. iv. 32. 
Matth. xviii. 23 — 35. ? If God, in his redeeming love, has 
brought us into his family, and put us among his children, why 
should we retain or live in our former malice and envy ? Why 
not, to the honour of his house, breathe forth the temper of 
his sons and daughters, in acts of love to each other, 1 John 
iii. 11, 14. Tit. iii. 3. ? If we be renewed, and have the sancti- 
fying spirit of God dwelling in us, why strive against him and 
the new nature which he has implanted, in order to do mis 



OF THE GOSPEL. 5.07 

•chief, 1 Pet. i. 3, 22, 23. Gal. v. 22. Eph. v. 9. Rom. xiii. 8. ? 
If we enjov the consolations of God, why not improve them 
to the comfort of others by acts of love to them, Col. ii. 2. ? 
If we expect that heavenly state in which love reigns in perpe- 
tual perfection, why should we not make it our present tem- 
per and business on earth ? But, more particularly, 

I. These reasons strongly demand that we should know and 
acknowledge, worship and glorify the true God as God and 
our God, and abstain from and abhor all atheism, profane- 
ness, and idolatry, in obedience to the first commandment. — 
If he alone be Jehovah, how absurd to attempt finding hap- 
piness in, or giving his glory to another, — and imaginary, or 
at best an upstart, dependent, fading, unsubstantial creature, 
Psalm lxxxiii. 18. cii. 26, 27. Isa. xlii. 8. Jer. x. 10, 11. Heb. 
xiii. 5, 8. Psalm xlviii. 14. Ixxiii. 25, 26. ? If he be the all- 
sufficient Jehovah, why not fix all our contemplation, trust, 
delight, gloriation, and worship on him alone, Jer. ii. 13. xviii. 
14, 15. 2 Cor. i. 5. 1 Sam. ii. 8. ? If he be Jehovah, the in- 
dependent Sovereign, why attempt to pull him down from his 
high throne, in order to exalt an insignificant creature, or 
worse, to his place, Isa. xl. 12 — 26. Psalm lxxxix. 6 — 8. xxxv. 
10. xxxvi. 7. ? If he be Jehovah, the sole author and pre- 
server of our being, why ought not all that we are and have 
to be directed to his honour, Psalm c. 3. xcv. 6, 7. ? If he be 
the author, upholder, and governour of all creatures, he must 
possess all their attractive excellency in an infinitely superiour 
degree, and his mere forbearance to communicate to them 
would render them despicable nothings ; why then choose, 
love, trust in, and adore them in his stead? — If, in his infinite 
grace, he earnestly offer and freely give himself to us as our 
God, our infinite all, why refuse him, in order to catch at 
things empty, abominable, and hurtful, Psalm lxxxi. 10— -13. 
Jer. iii. 1, 9. xvi. 19, 20. Isa. xliv. 9--20.? If, through con- 
descension, debasement, and suffering, he has so laboured to 
bestow himself on us. why not abandon every rival to re- 
ceive and enjoy him, Psalm xlv. 10, 11. cxviii. 28. xviii. 1— 
3. ? If he candidly and kindly grant us himself and all his ful- 
ness, why discredit his promise and offer, as if we believed 
himself a churlish restrainer of all to himself? If, by solemn 
declarations of his word, and manifold strivings of his Spirit 
and providence, he has shut us up to the faith of his being our 
God, why trample his authority, his faithfulness, and his bowels 
of mercy under our feet, in order to shift all saving title to, 
or enjoyment of himself? If Jehovah be our kind, our ever- 
lasting Father, why not avouch and glorify him, Mai. i. 6. ? 
Why turn away from him, Deut. xxxii. 6. ? If he be our af- 



508 OP THE GOSPEL. 

fectionate husband, why should we, to his and his people's 
grief, adulterously forsake him, in order to entertain devils 
and sinful lusts in his room, John vi. 68. ? If, through suffer- 
ing and death, he has become our Friend, why live ignorant 
of, deny, hate, distrust, or displease him, 1 John iv. 19. Prov. 
xvii. 17. xviii. 24. ? If he be our Master, who has bought us, 
and already more than rewarded all our service, and never- 
theless reserves infinite rewards of grace for us, why break 
away from him to serve our murderers, Mai. i. 6. ? — In Jesus' 
payment of the price of our redemption, we behold every per- 
fection of Jehovah displayed in the most engaging manner, — 
every promise and grant of him to be our God sealed with the 
blood of his Son, — the most delightful access and claim to him 
suited to our sinful condition, — together with full and irre- 
fragable evidence that he will withhold no good thing from 
us, 2 Cor. iv. 6. v. 19 — 21- i. 20. Heb. x. 19—22. viii. 10 — 
12. Rom. viii. 32. Why then should we wickedly neglect or 
refuse to receive, improve, and serve him, Luke i. 74, 75. 
Gen. xxxix. 9. ? — Why should not his infinite mercy, from 
which all his new-covenant blessings proceed, invincibly draw 
and bind our hearts to an eternal dependence on, and worship 
of him ? And, if we be united with Christ, why attempt to 
dissolve our marriage, put him away, or cause him to hold 
fellowship with idols, 2 Cor. vi. 14, 15. 1 John v. 20, 21. I 
If we be justified, why condemn our Justifier, and tread him 
under our feet ? If God has adjudged us to eternal life, why 
prefer dead idols to him ? If he has adopted us into his family , 
why not live upon him as its provision, join in its worship, 
and labour to be an honour to its head and members ? Why 
attempt to destroy our gracious adopter, and cut off all life 
and comfort from ourselves and fellow-children, Jer. ii. 13. ? 
If, by regeneration and sanctijication, we have been made tem- 
ples and living images of God in Christ, why bring idols into 
his holy place, and deface his honourable image with the mark 
of the devil in our heart, hand, or forehead ? Why act iu 
furious contradiction to the excellent and graciously implanted 
principles of our new nature, in an unholy and unrighteous 
forsaking God, for the sake of idols ? If we have tasted 
the everlasting consolations of Christ, why, by forsaking the 
God of all comfort, undermine our happiness, Col. iii. 2. 2 Cor. 
i. 3 — 5. ? If we have experienced much of his mercy and 
grace, wisdom, power, and faithfulness, why doubt of his ex- 
istence, or be ashamed or regardiess of him? If we have a 
title to, or solid hope of everlasting happiness, why commit 
idolatry, which tends to exclude us from it? If we expect 
Jehovah to be our eternal all in all, why not rest satisfied 
with him on earth? If we desire that heavenly happiness, 



OF THE GOSPEL. oO^ 

why abandon the preparer of it, and the guide of it, for an 
idol? why attempt to make our life on earth a hell, through 
want of fellowship with God? 

II. These reasons no less powerfully enforce the receiving, 
observing, and keeping pure and entire all God's instituted or- 
dinances of his worship, and dissuade from worshipping him by 
images, or any other way not appointed in his word. If the 
Lawgiver be Jehovah infinitely glorious, how fearfully every 
carnal imagination and corporeal representation of him must 
misrepresent and debase him ! If he be the author of our, and 
of all other beings, how absurd for us to encourage false and 
disgraceful representations of him ! if he be all-sufficient, why 
should not his own ordinances alone be held proper means for 
the enjoyment and worship of him ? If he be an absolute sove- 
reign, why forsake his appointmepts, in order to subject our- 
selves to the inventions of men, Col. ii. 16 — 23. ? — If he be our 
divine Father, why not adhere to the rules of his family ? If he 
be our Husband, whv not please him in all things, and abhor 
every reproachful misrepresentation of him, — and every en- 
croachment upon his prerogative of appointing all the means of 
his own worship ? If he be our Friend, why forsake his insti- 
tutions, or exchange or mix them with those of Satan and the 
world ? If he be our Mastir and Proprietor, why not receive 
and adhere to his rules and service ? If he be our Portion, why 
not carefully attend to the only means of enjoying him, Ezek. 
xxxvii. 26, 27. Psalm lxxxiv. 10 — 12.? — If, to pay the price, 
and secure the conveyance of our redemption to us, Jehovah's 
own Son became his representing image, whv throw him aside 
as useless or insufficient, in order to view the Godhead in 
fancies, or in images made by men, Col. i. 15. 2 Cor. iv. 4, 6. 
John xiv. 9, 10. ? If, in redeeming mankind, he came to abo- 
lish idols, why should they, whom he redeemed, attempt to 
counteract the end and influence of his incarnation, ministry, 
and death, Zech. xiii. 2 — 7- ? If he has consecrated these ordi- 
nances with his own blood, and furnished them with his pur- 
chased blessings, why trample on the blood of the covenant, 
with which they are sanctified, in neglecting, corrupting, or 
changing them, Eph. ii. 14—18. i. 3. ? If, by his blood, he has 
purchased his mediatorial dominion, from which these ordi- 
nances immediately proceed, and has purchased the mission and 
operation of the Holy Ghost to render them effectual, and has 
redeemed us from infinite sinfulness and misery, that we may 
be zealous observers of them, why disregard, abuse, or neglect 
them? — If we be united to Christ, that we may live by him, 
why not improve him, in his own ordinances of fellowship with 
him and his Father and the Spirit ? If God has justified us, and 



$10 OF THE GOSPEL. 

adjudged us to eternal life, why not justify his institutions, and 
use them as means of receiving and increasing our spiritual life ? 
If he has adopted us into his family, why introduce the ordi- 
nances of hell or earth into his worship, to prevent our enjoy- 
ment of fellowship with him, Matth. xv. 2, 3, 9. ? If we be 
sanctified, why not earnestly look into his erected glass, ia 
which, beholding his image, we may be changed from glorv to 
glory by his Spirit, 2 Cor. iii. 18. ? If, in holiness and righte- 
ousness, we be living images of God, formed by himself, why 
debase ourselves by falling down to a fancy, or the stock of a 
tree, 1 Cor. viii. 4. Isa. xliv. 10 — 20. ? If there be any new- 
covenant comfort, why expect it to be conveyed to us, but 
through the ordinances of the God of all comfort, Isa. lxvi. 11. 
12. ? If we hope for eternal happiness, why not walk to it, and 
prepare for it, in God's way, Prov. viii. 34. ? If God, the be- 
stower of all blessings, have instituted these ordinances as the 
means of conferring his favours on men, how absurd, by our 
negligence or superstition, to attempt to frustrate his kind in- 
tentions, Prov. viii. 34, 36. Matth. xv. 9. ? 

III. In subservience to the third commandment, these 
reasons powerfully enforce the holy and reverent use of God's 
names, titles, attributes, ordinances, words, and works, and 
dissuade from all profanation and abuse of them. — -It he be the 
infinitely glorious Jehovah, all contempt or abuse of his name 
must be infinitely criminal. If he be all-sufficient, how mad 
and impious to attempt to rob him of his honour and pleasure I 
If he be the Author of all being, every abuse of that which he 
has formed or instituted must terminate on him. If he be an 
independent Sovereign, why not give him the most profound 
reverence ?— If he be our God, our Father, Husband, Friend, 
Master, and Portion, what ingratitude, impiety, and self-de- 
struction must be included in our dishonouring his name ? And 
how shocking to improve his new-covenant characters as ob- 
jects of our profanation and blasphemy? — If, in paying the 
price of our redemption, Jesus Christ obeyed, suffered, and died, 
to sweeten the name of God to us, and give it a glorious mani- 
festation in our deliverance, — died to purchase our souls and 
bodies to be eternal honourers of it, — and to procure the Holy 
Ghost's creating the fear and love of it in our hearts, — how 
shocking to crucify Jesus afresh, and by abusive reproach pro- 
fane his name ? If his name be the source and security of all 
our new-covenant privileges, why trample on and tear it ? If 
we be united to Christ, why abuse and blaspheme our divine, 
our dearest Relatives ? — If we be justified, why abuse and blas- 
pheme our merciful and lofty Judge ? If we are adopted by God, 
why introduce the language and behaviour of hell into his fa- 



OF THE GOSPEL. 511 

roily ? If we be regenerated and sanctified, why mark our hatred 
of holiness, and belch forth blasphemy against that worthy God, 
whose image we bear ? If we be comfortedby God, and through 
his name, why reward his kindness with the most shocking in- 
sult and abuse? If we expect to enjoy and praise him for ever, 
why disqualify ourselves for that work, and by profaneness pre- 
pare ourselves for eternal damnation ? 

IV. These reasons no less powerfully enforce the keeping 
holy to God such set times as he has appointed in his word, espe- 
cially one whole day in seven to be an holy sabbath to himself. 
— If he be the infinitely glorious Jehovah, how can time be 
better spent than in honouring him, and contemplating his 
glory ? If he be all-sufficient, how profitable the time spent in 
fellowship with him, and receiving his fulness ! If he be the au- 
thor of beings, how proper to commemorate his astonishing 
works of creation and redemption, and cheerfully to bestow 
time, or any thing else, on his service, when he demands it ! If 
he be an absolute Sovereign, how necessary to allow him every 
thing which he challenges for his property ! — If he be our God, 
our Father, our Husband, our Friend, our Master and Por- 
tion, how absurd to refuse him any thing he requires ! And how 
pleasant, profitable, honourable, and dutiful, to spend proper 
time in fellowship with, and enjoyment of him, in these new- 
covenant relations! — If Jesus Christ, by his obedience and 
death, has redeemed us from sin and hell to God, how worthy 
of our solemn remembrance must the finishing of his purchase 
be ? If, in his death, he purchased for us an everlasting fellow- 
ship with, and the enjoyment of God, and procured the apply- 
ing influences of the Holy Ghost to promote it, why should the 
peculiar season and means of this fellowship be despised or pro- 
faned ? — If we be united to Christ, why should not we, on the 
day of his resurrection, awake, that he may give us light ? If 
we be justified, why not commemorate that day of the week in 
which Christ received his justifying sentence for himself and 
his people ? — and prize that day which God has appointed for 
bestowing or intimating justification to men ? If we be adopted^ 
why not observe the great birth-day of God's family in Christ 
their risen Head ? If we be sanctified, why not delight to keep 
holy the Sabbath of the Lord our God, and improve it as a 
mean of our progressive holiness ? If we have received the Spi- 
rit of consolation, why not delightto hold solemn weekly fellow- 
ship with the God of all comfort and his people ? If, by the 
covenant, the promise, the oath of God, eternal salvation be se- 
cured for us, why not take pleasure in weekly foretastes of it, 
and call the Sabbath a delight ? 



512 OP THE GOSPEL; 

V. These reasons also enforce the careful performance of all 
the relative duties required in the fifth commandment, and 
dissuade from every thing contrary. — If the infinitely glorious, 
all-sufficient, independent, all-creating and governing Jehovah, 
be manifested in the diversified relations of men to each other, 
and the duties belonging to them, why, by neglect of these 
duties, should we dishonour his character in his representatives, 
resist his ordinances, and practically consider ourselves more 
capable to fix our stations, and regulate our duties in them, 
than he ? — If Jehovah, as our God, stand to us in the infinitely 
gracious new-covenant relations of Father, Husband, Friend, 
Master, Portion, &c. how richly must we be furnished,-— how 
strongly bound and powerfully excited to give an honourable 
representation of him, in all our relative behaviour toward men, 
Eph. v. vi. Col. iii. iv. 1 Pet. ii. iii. Rom. xii. — xv. ? — If, in 
paying the price of our redemption, Christ fulfilled the duties 
of every relation in which he stood, as Child, Servant, Subject, 
Master, Friend, Father, he. Matth. iii. 17. John viii. 29. 
Luke ii. 51. Isa. xlix. 3. Iii. 13. liii. 11. John xiv. 28, 31. x. 
18. xvii. 4. xiii. 1—10. xv. 13, 14. x. 10, 11, 15. Mat. xxiii. 
8, 10. Isa. liii. 10. ix. 6. Eph. v. 25— -27. ; why not copy his 
pattern ? If, by his obedience and sufferings, he sanctified and 
rendered human relations useful and comfortable to us, why 
should we not honour him in fulfilling the duties pertaining to 
them, Eph. v. 23, 27- ?— If we be united to Christ, why not 
walk as he also walked, 1 John ii. 6. Eph. v. 2. 1 Pet. ii. 21 

1 Cor. xi. 1. ? If we be pardoned and accepted to eternal life, 
why not act tenderly toward all our relatives,-— even such as 
injure us ? Matth. v. 44. Eph. iv. 32. If we be adopted mem- 
bers of God's family, why not exemplify our good manners be- 
fore the world ? If we be renewed and sanctified, why not walk 
in the beauties of holiness, in abiding with God, in our respec- 
tive stations, and attempting to gain our relations to Jesus 
Christ? If we have enjoyed spiritual comfort, why, in our 
whole behaviour towards others, should we not comfort them 
with the consolation wherewith we are comforted by Christ, 

2 Cor. i. 4, 6. ? If we expect the heavenly state, why not make 
this world as like it as we can, in social order and happiness, 
2 Pet. iii. 11, 14.? 

VI. No less powerfully do these reasons enforce and urge our 
preservation of human life required in the sixth commandment, 
and dissuade from every thing contrary. If Jehovah be the 
Author, Preserver, and Proprietor of men's life, what a pre- 
sumptuous striking at his life, a robbing him of his power and 
property, and an exposing our own life to his just vengeance, 
must all unjust taking it away be ! If he be our infinitely glo- 



OF THE GOSPEL. 513 

irious and absolute Sovereign, why should not the views of his 
infinite glory and majesty awe and compose our spirits ! Why 
should we vie with him in the power of life and death, or rob 
him of that life which he might dispose to his own glory ? — If 
he be our all-sufficient God, Father, Husband, Friend, Master, 
Portion, why, like devils, attempt to render ourselves happier 
by ruining ourselves or our neighbours? — If, in infinite kindness, 
he has become related to us his enemies, why not imitate his 
gracious and honourable conduct, in labouring, by every lawful 
mean, to preserve the life of our enemies, — and in walking in. 
love toward that life, which he may make useful for his ho- 
nour ? Why not, in the whole of our behaviour, exhibit him to 
the world, as gracious, merciful, and long suffering? If, with 
his infinitely precious blood, he has purchased our eternal life, 
why, by destroying men's lives, should we counteract the end 
of his death ?-— Why rob him of an opportunity to glorify him- 
self, by bestowing spiritual and eternal life on our neighbours ? 
And why not follow his example, who prayed for, and promot- 
ed the welfare of his betrayers and murderers ? — And why not 
earnestly and hopefully improve all the means of promoting the 
precious life of our own or our neighbours' souls ?— If we be 
united to Christ, why render his members instruments of cruelty, 
hatred, and murder ? If we be justified, and adjudged to eter- 
nal life, why not mortify every murderous disposition ? Or why 
act as if we had no eternal life abiding in us, or attempt to an- 
nul our happy sentence, or rob God of an opportunity of justi- 
fying others ? Eph. iv. 31, 32. Matth. xviii. 23 — 33. 1 John 
iii. 15. Dan. xii. 3. If we be God's adopted children, why 
should not we be kindly affectioned, and ready to lay down our 
Jives for our brethren? 1 John iii. 16. If the Holy Ghost 
dwell in us in his sanctifying and comforting influences, why 
should we not permit, nay, improve him, to purge out all our 
selfishness and render us fruitful in all goodness and love ? And 
why not avoid every thing which may provoke or grieve him ? 
—If, at an infinite expense of love, power, and blood, God has 
conformed us to his own image, why make ourselves like the 
devil, who was a murderer from the beginning ? If he comfort 
us with his kindness, why should we maliciously pain and dis- 
tress others ? If we expect everlasting happiness, why indulge 
such affections as render us unfit for it, and mark our exclusion 
from it ? If God suffer not bloody men to live out half their 
days on earth, why should they expect eternal life in heaven ? 

VII. These reasons no less powerfully enforce the preserva- 
tion of our own and our neighbour's chastity, in obedience to 
the seventh commandment. If God be Jehovah, the Author 
and Former both of our body and mind- both ought to be k 

i Y 



514 OF THE GOSPEL. ^ 

pure to his honour. If he, in his everlasting arms, be their up- 
holder and governour, why pollute them ? If he be all-suffi- 
cient, why, in his stead, seek unlawful and beastly pleasures 
for our immortal soul ? If he be infinitely glorious, why, with 
abominable filthiness, stain his image on ourselves ? If he be 
our God, our Father, our Husband, our Friend, our Master 
and Portion, how unnecessary, how infamous, absurd, and pro- 
voking, to prefer disgraceful and ruinous pleasures to the most 
intimate and most delightful fellowship with him? — If Jesus 
Christ purchased our body and mind with the infinite price of 
his blood, why not glorify him and his Father with both ? If 
he died to redeem us from the filthiness of the flesh and spirit, 
why attempt to frustrate the end of his death, and, for nothing, 
for endless ruin, sell our body and soul to the coarse drudgery 
of Satan? 1 Cor. vi. 1», 29. Tit. ii. 14. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19. If, 
in paying the price of our redemption, he marked such con- 
tempt of the pleasures of sense, why not, with the same mind, 
arm ourselves ? 1 Pet. iv. 1—3 — If we be united to Christ, 
why make our body and mind, which are his members, the 
members of an harlot ? If, in our justification, we be delivered 
from the broken law, we are no longer debtors to live after the 
flesh, Rom. vi. 1 3, 14. viii. 12. ; why then tempt God to reverse 
his infinitely gracious sentence? Heb. xiii. 4. 2 Pet. ii. 10. Or 
why interrupt our new-covenant evidence, or his new intima- 
tions of our pardon? If we be the adopted children of God, why 
dishonour him and his family, by our abominable whoredoms ? 
If we have his sanctifying Spirit and a sanctified nature in us, 
why disgrace his temple, debase and oppose his work, by the 
indulgence of beastly lusts ? 1 Thess. iv. 3, 4. Eph. v. 3-— 6. 
1 Cor. vi. 19. Gal. v. 22, 23. If we enjoy the consolat ion of 
God, and have his love shed abroad in our heart, why abuse 
them, as if sensual gratifications were a necessary supplement 
of, or preferable to them ? If we be entitled to, or expect hea- 
venly and eternal pleasures, why, by brutal defilements on earth, 
unfit ourselves for them ? If Jesus and his complete salvation 
be fast approaching to us, why not lay aside chambering and 
wantonness? Rom. xiii. 11 — 14. If we expect that he will 
fashion our body like to his glorious body, why now render it 
viler than the beasts ? 

VIII. These reasons no less powerfully urge that universal 
equity, which is required by the eighth commandment. If 
God be the sovereign proprietor of all things, how wicked must 
it be to rob any of that which he has allotted him ? If he be 
the author of all being, all dishonesty in any thing must amount 
to a robbery committed on God himself, and an attempt to re- 
verse his disposal. — If he be our God, our Father, our Hus- 



OF THE GOSPEL. ji j 

band, our Friend, and our Master, why not tru3t him to lay up 
for his children, and provide for his spouse, his friends, and ser- 
vants, things earthly as well as eternal? and why blaspheme 
him, as if he were a resetter of our stolen goods ? If he be our 
all-sufficient portion, why prefer stolen trifles to his infinite ful- 
ness ? — If, in Jesus's payment of the price of our redemption, 
God has so clearly manifested his infinite regard to equity, why, 
for trifles, violate a law ratified by the death of his Son ? If 
Jesus Christ, by his death, has purchased for us a new-covenant 
right to, and possession of every temporal good thing, why rob 
others, in order to procure that which is bad for us ? If he has 
purchased for himself a mediatorial right to all things, why, by 
our dishonesty, attempt to disgrace or rob him of the reward of 
his death, Heb. ii. 8, 9. Hag. ii. 8. ?-— If we be unitedto Christ, 
why stretch forth our heart or our hands, which are his mem- 
bers, to dishonesty ? If we be pardoned, and adjudged to eternal 
life, why reproach and condemn God our justifier, as if he per- 
mitted and obliged us, on our way to heaven, to procure main- 
tenance from Satan I If we be adopted into the family of God, 
why stain our character with dishonesty, which is not the spot 
of his children ? And, why disgrace our Father, elder Brother, 
and fellow saints, as if they connived with our theft? If we be 
the sanctified temples of the Holy Ghost, why debase ourselves 
with treasures of rapine, Isa. xxxiii. 15, 16.? If we enjoy the 
consolations of God, why mix them with, or lose them for, the 
disgraceful fruits of fraud and violence, Heb. »iii. 18. Luke 
xvi. 1. ? If we be certain heirs of God and joint heirs with 
Christ, and expect everlasting riches and^-/ory, why dishonour 
him, and disgrace ourselves, by dishonesty in the things of this 
world ? 

IX. These reasons no less forcibly urge the most strict re- 
gard to truth, and to our own and our neighbour's. good name. 
If the lawgiver be Jehovah the God of truth, who gives being 
to all his words, why incline to, utter, or encourage falsehood 
or calumny? If he be the author of all being, why employ the 
work of his hands in the service of his arch-enemy, who is a 
liar, and the father of lies ? If he be our absolute sovereign, 
why act as if our heart and tongue belonged to the devil ? If 
his name and nature be infinitely glorious, why disgrace him in 
those creatures in whom his name and image are peculiarly 
marked ? If he be all-sufficient, why prefer calumny and false- 
hood to the just commendations and high praises of him ?— If 
he be our God, our Father, our Husband, our Friend, our Mas- 
ter, our Portion, what can tempt us to slander and falsehood, 
either to avert evil or to procure advantage ? And, in order to 
imitate Satan, and retail the poison of asps under our tongue, 



516 OF THE GOSPEL. 

why dishonour his relations to us, and ours to him ?---If, in the 
price of our redemption, God has manifested his inviolable, his 
infinite regard to the truth of his own promises and threaten- 
ings, in the death of his Son, his detestation of Adam's recep- 
tion of falsehood, and his reproaching his Maker, why ought 
not lying and reproachful lips to be an abomination to every 
one interested in that propitiation, and in the New Testament 
ratified by it? — If we be united to Christ, who is the true and 
faithful witness, nay truth itself, why render his members in- 
struments of calumny and falsehood, especially to the disgrace 
of his mystical body, which to him is as the apple of his eye ? 
If God has graciously blotted out millions of our crimes and jus- 
tified us, why should we not for ever detest all slandering 
others, or delighting in their infamy ? And why not pass the 
most charitable judgment on the conduct of others, particularly 
of those who, to our shame, may, in the last judgment, have 
their character solemnly vindicated ? If we be adopted into 
God's family, why act as the children of Satan, and as if the 
Spirit of God assisted us to contrive and utter lies and calumny ? 
If the Spirit of truth, by his word of truth, has begotten us 
again and sanctified us, implanting truth in our inward part, 
why not 6peak the truth in love growing up into Christ, Eph. 
iv. 15. ; and our sanctified tongue be as choice silver, and our 
lips feed many, rather than pour fourth malice and folly? If 
God's law be written in our heart, why not put away all guile, 
malice, and evil speaking, 1 Pet. ii. 1. James i. 18, 21. iv. 11.? 
Why should the same tongue bless God, and curse men who 
are made after his image ? If we enjoy the comforts of the 
Holy Ghost, why banish them to introduce infernal pleasure in 
falsehood and slander ? If God has given us so many exceeding 
great and precious promises sealed with the hlood of his Son, 
why, by such infamous, though too common wickedness, labour 
to come short of them ? If we be entitled to, or expect everlast- 
ing happiness, why, by lying and calumny, ripen ourselves for 
hell, Rev. xxi. 8. xxii. 15. ? 

X. These reasons no less mightily enforce that contentment 
and charitable frame of spirit required in the TiENTH command- 
ment, and dissuade from every thing contrary. If God be the 
infinitely glorious, all-sufficient author, and independent sove- 
reign of being, why, by discontentment, envy, and covetous- 
ness, or corruption of nature, should we deprive him of his ho- 
nour, and of his proper place in our heart ? If he be our God, 
Father, Husband, Friend, Master, and Portion, why should we 
be discontented under his care, and our new-covenant enjoy- 
ment of him ? And why fond to fill his place in our soul with 
ibase, vile, empty, or ill-gotten nothings?— If, in paying the 



OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 517 

price of our redemption, Jesus Christ contented himself with 
poverty, reproach, distress, and death, that he might render us, 
his enemies, happy and renowned, why should we imitate de- 
vils, who left their first estate, in order to procure what must 
attend the curse of God ? — If we be united with Christ, why- 
indulge tempers which are so displeasing and disgraceful to 
him ? If God, in our justification, forgive us so many sins, how 
much less must we be than the least of all his mercies ! And 
why then not contented with so many and great mercies as we 
possess, or are entitled to ? And why refuse to walk in his way 
to that eternal life to which he has adjudged us ? If we be God's 
adopted children, why repine at his all-sufficient and delightful 
provision, and labour to feed on husks, which swine do eat? If 
we be sanctified, why indulge that evil concupiscence, which 
renders us carnal, sold under sin ? If we be graciously comforted 
by God, why, with discontentment, envy, and covetousness, un- 
righteously vex our soul from day to day ? If we be heirs of 
eternal life, why fond of that which detains our heart from our 
heavenly blessedness ? If God draw us upward, why should our 
belly and soul cleave to the earth ? 

Reflect. But what do I know of this glorious gospel, and 
its marvellous influence ? Have I understood and believed its 
declarations, embraced its offers, and complied with its invita- 
tions ? Have I experimentally discerned and felt its difference 
from, harmony with, and subservience to the law, as a covenant, 
and as a rule ? Is my heart filled and inflamed, my loins girt 
and my feet shod with this gospel of grace and peace ? Under 
its heart-purifying, heart-enlarging, and animating influence, 
have, and do I, run in the way of all God's commandments ?— ■ ■ 
Here, here, let my knowledge be exact, and my experience 
powerful and distinct, — A mistake here, even to appearance the 
most trivial, how greatly may it affect the exercise of my soul, 
©r my preaching Christ ! 



CHAP. III. 



Of the Instituted Ordinances of the Covenant of Grace, 
and the Harmony and Difference between those un- 
der the Old Testament, and these under the *Yew, 

IN these divinely instituted ordinances, God does not only 
come near to us, as in his word, but we also draw near to him. 
Some of them respect the less and others the more immediate;— 



518 OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 

Some the solitary ; and others the socio/,- and others both the 
solitary and social; — some the occasional; and others the stated 
and permanent worship of God. Some pertained to the Old Tes- 
tament dispensation of the covenant of grace; others to the New, 
or to both. Some belong to both saints and sinners ; and others 
of the sealing- kind belong only to saints. Some pertain to all 
church members; and others only to church rulers. The end of 
them all, as respecting unconverted sinners, is- to instruct, con- 
vince, and convert them ; — and, as respecting saints, to build 
them up in holiness and comfort, through faith unto complete 
salvation, John xx. 31. Eph. iv. 11 — 14. These ordinances are, 

I. Reading the Scriptures in secret, private, and publick, 
John v. 39. Acts xvii. 11. Neh. ix. 3. — Every person capable 
by age ought to read the Scriptures. 1 . God has plainly war- 
ranted them to do so, Deut. iv. 6,7. xi. 19. xvii. 18, 19. xxxi. 
11, 12. Jer. xxxvi. 6. John v. 39. Matth. xxii. 29. Luke xvi. 
29, 31. Isa. viii. 20. xxxiv. 16. Rev. i. 3. Col. iv. 16. Mark 
xiii. 14. 2. The church, with God's approbation, has constantly 
done so, Neh. viii. 3, 4. ix. 3. Luke iv. 16. Acts xv. 21. viii. 
28. xvii. 11. Psalm cxix. 24. Luke x. 26. 2 Tim. iii. 15. 
3. God appointed his word to be written that it might be read, 
Hab. ii. 2. Isa. viii. 1. xxx. 8. Jer. xxx. 2. xxxvi. 2, 6, 28. 
Rev. i. 3, 11. 2 Tim. iii. 15— 17. Rom. xv. 4. 4. The state of 
men, particularly of believers, on earth, as God's children, pro- 
phets, and priests, require their intimate acquaintance with his 
word, Rom. i. 16, 17. iii- 21, 22. James i. 18, 21. 1 Peter i- 23% 
ii. 2. 1 John iii. 1. Psalm cv. 15. Rev. i. 5, 6. 1 Cor. ii. 15.— 
The Scriptures ought to be read by all, 1 . With an high and 
reverent esteem of them as indeed the word of God, Psalm xix. 
10. cxix. 72. Neh. viii. 3. ix. 3. Exod- xxiv. 7. 2 Chran. xxxiv. 

17. Isa. Ixvi. 2. 2. With a firm persuasion that they are the 
word of God, necessary to be known by us in order to our eter- 
nal salvation, 2 Pet. i. 19, 20. ; and that he alone can make us 
savingly understand them, Luke xxSv. 45. 2 Cor. iii. 13 — 16. 
3. With our conscience lying open to God's authority in them, 
and earnest desire to know, believe, and obey his whole will re- 
vealedinthem, 1 Thess. ii. 13. Deut. xvii. 18 — 20. Psalm cxix. 

18. Ixxxv. 8. 4. With a diligent attention to the matter and 
scope of them, and of every particular passage in them, John 
v. 39. Acts xvii. 11. viii. 30, 34. Luke x. 26— 28. 5. With 
particular and earnest application of that which we read to our- 
selves, Prov. iii. 1, 4. 2 Chron. xxxiv. 21 . Jer. xv. 16. Col. iii. 
16. Psalm cxix. 6. With a self-denying dependence upon God 
for his effectual blessing upon that which we read, Prov. iii. 5. 
ii. 1 — 7- Psalm cxix. 18. 7- Cordially experiencing, and con- 



OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 51» 

stantly and earnestly practising that which we read, John xiii. 
17. Josh. i. 7, 8. 1 Pet. ii. 2. 

II. Meditation on the word of God, and on his works as 
connected with it, Psalm i. 2. cxix. 48, 97. cv. 5. cxi. 2, 4. — 
In thinking on God's word and works, 1. Our heart ought to 
be fixed, Psalm cviii. 1. cxxxix. It. 2. It ought to be deep- 
ly affected, Psalm civ. 34. xlv. 1. cxxxix. 17. 3. It ought 
to be habitually employed in this exercise, Psalm exix. 97. 
cxxxix. 17, 18. lxiii. 6. 4. Our thoughts ought to have a 
sanctifying tendency and influence, 2 Cor. iii. 18. 5. It is 
proper that they be diversified in their objects and form, and 
proceed orderly from one point to another. 

III. Preaching the word of God, in explaining his law 
and gospel, and pointing his truths in the most particular man- 
ner to the consciences of hearers, for their conviction, con- 
version, sanctification, and comfort. God's word ought to 

be preached, 1 . Regularly, by such only as are duly qualified 
and called to that work, 1 Tim. iii. 2 — 6. 2 Tim. ii. 2, 4. 
Eph. iv. 8 — 11. Mai. ii. 7. 2 Cor. iii. 6. Jer. xiv. 15. xxiii. 
21, 32. Rom. x. 15. Heb. v. 4. 1 Cor. xii. 28, 29. 1 Tim. iii. 
10. iv. 14. v. 22. 2. Soundly, preaching nothing but what 
is founded in the word of God, and stated in that very con- 
nection in which it states it ; nothing but what, and as it is 
calculated to exalt Christ, humble men, and bring them to 
God in Christ, Tit. ii. 1, 8. 1 Tim. ii. 7- 2 Tim. iv. 2, 3. 
3. Evangelically, rightly arranging Law and Gospel, answer- 
ably to their above-mentioned differences and harmony, 2 Tim. 
ii. 15. Rom. i. 16, 17- 4. Diligently, earnestly watching for 
and embracing every opportunity of preparing for, or preach- 
ing it ,n order to glorify God in the edification of souls, 2 Tim. 
iv. 2. Heb. xiii. 17. Acts xviii. 25. xvi. 31. Col. i. 28, 29. 
5. Plainly, not in the enticing words of man's wisdom, but in 
words which the Holy Ghost teaches, and with demonstration 
of the Spirit and of power, manifesting the truths of God to every 
man's conscience in the most simple and scriptural language, 
plain ©rder, with obvious proofs and enforcements, t Cor. xiv. 
19. ii. 4, 13. 2 Cor. iii. 12. iv. 2, 13. xi 3. Hab. ii. 2. Isa. 
xxx. 8. 6. Faithfully, giving to saints and sinners that which 
best answers their diversified states and circumstances, Jer. 
xxiii. 28. 1 Cor. iv- 1, 2. ii. 1, 2. xi 1, 2. Acts xx. 27- Ezek. 
iii. xxxiii. xiii. 19—23. Matth. xxiv. 45. 2 Cor. iv 1, 2. 7- 
Wisely, the doctrine and manner of delivering it being suited to 
the capacities and the circumstances of the hearers, Col. i. 28. 
2 Tim. ii. 15. 1 Cor. iii. 2, 10. Heb. v. 11 — 14. Luke xii. 42. 
John xvi. 12. 8. Sincerely, not from regard to worldly ap> 



520 OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES, 

plause, gain, or like carnal ends, but from a firm faith and 
deep impression of the truth, directly and principally aiming at 
the glory of God in the edification of souls ; and hence chiefly 
insisting on the more important truths of the gospel ; but 
never neglecting to manifest and establish those trr.ths which 
are presently opposed, when an opportunity calls for it, 1 Cor. 
ii. 17. iv 2. 1 Thess. ii. 4 — 6. John vii. 18. 1 Cor. ix. 19 — 
22. 2 Cor. xii. 19. Eph. iv. 12—14. 1 Tim. iv. 16. Acts xxvi. 
16 — 18. 2 Pet. i. 12. Rev. iii. 10 — 9. Fervently, with a ju- 
dicious, heart-burning zeal for the glory of God, and deep-felt 
compassion towards the souls of men, manifested in a grave 
and affectionate address, Acts xviii. 25, 28. 2 Cor. v. 11, 13, 
14. Phil. i. 15, 17. Col. iv. 12. 2 Cor. xii. 15. Gal. vi- 19, 20. 
I Ihess. ii. 1—10. 

IV. Hearing God's word read or preached, Isa. Iv. 3. ; — to 
which is necessary, 1. Preparation for hearing it, getting our 
heart impressed with an awful sense of God's majesty and 
holiness, into whose presence we come, and whose word we 
hear, Psalm lxxxix. 6, f. Acts x. 33. Isa. lxvi. 2.; banishing 
all lawful worldly cares from our heart, Matth. xiii. 7. Gen. 
xxii. 4, 5.; application of Jesus' blood for removing all our 
guilt, and all controversy between God and us, Amos iii. 3, 
Psalm xxvi. 6. Rev. iv. 6.; purging our heart from corrupt 
lusts and affections, and stirring it up to spiritual desires of 
fellowship with God, 1 Pet. ii. 1, 2. James i. 21. 2. Earnest 
prayer for assistance to the minister, and for edification to our- 
selves and others by the out-pouring of the Holy Ghost in the or- 
dinance, 2 Thess. iii. 1. Eph. vi. 19, 20. Psalm cxix. 18. Song 
iv, 16. Ezek. xxxvii. 9. 1 Pet. i. 12. 3. Careful attention to that 
which is read or preached, diligently waiting on all the oppor- 
tunities of hearing that come within our reach, as God's appoint- 
ments with sinful men, 1 Tim. iv. 13. Prov. viii. 34. ; gravely 
and composedly bending our ear and mind to that which is spo- 
ken, Isa. Iv. 3. Luke ix. 20. Prov. ii. 1, 2. ; observing what we 
hear, and judging it by the Scripture, Mark iv. 24. Luke viii. 
18. Acts xvii. 11. ; and studying to know the mind of God in 
his word, Acts xvi. 14. Psalm lxxxv. 8. 4. Cordial recep- 
tion of that which we find to be the truth of God, in the as- 
sured faith of its divine authority, with particular application 
of it to ourselves, and with esteem of, love to, desire after, 
and delight in it, and hence with meekness and readiness of 
mind, Heb. iv. 2. 2 Thess. ii. 10. Eph. iv. 21. James i. 21. 
1 Pet. ii. 2. Acts xvii. 11. 1 Thess. i. 5. ii. 13. 5. Hiding it 
in our heart as a precious treasure, and a continued remem- 
brance, knowledge, and love of it, Psalm cxix. 21, 72, 103, 
139, 140. Job xxiii. 12. Col. iii. 16. Isa. xlii. 23. Prov- ii. t. 



OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. &>l 

iii. 1,3. 6- Serious meditation and pious conference on that 
which we have heard, Luke ix. 44. Heb. ii. 1. Luke xxiv. 
14—32. Deut. vi. 6, 7. 7. Practising that which we hear, 
in.ikmg God's word the rule and the reason of all that we do; 
and abounding in holiness ansvverably to our enjoyment of the 
means of it, Luke viii. 15. James i. 22, 23, 25. Rev. i. 3. 
John xiii. 17. 

V. Spiritual conference, to which may be reduced, 1. 
Communing with our own heart, Psalm iv. 4. ; putting serious 
que stions to our conscience concerning our state, temper, and 
conduct, in order to have them compared with, and adjusted 
by God's word, 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Zeph. ii. 1.; laying solemn 
cb trges on it before God, Psalm ciii. 1 — 5. civ. 1, 35. xiii. 5, 
11. xliii. 5. ; and reciting important facts to it, Psalm xvi. 2. 
2. Spiritual conference with neighbours in occasional or stated 
meetings ; — or in catechising of families, Luke xxiv. 13—32— 
49. Deut. vi. 6, 7. Mai. iii. 16. Col. iii. 16. Song v. 8—16. 
vi. 1 — 3. Gen. xviii. 19. 3. Ministerial visiting and catechis- 
ing persons and families, or the sick, which may also be re- 
ferred to preaching, Gal. vi. 6. Acts xx. 20, 31 — In such 
conferences, 1. The matter ought chiefly to be the most im- 
portant points of divine truth, Matth. xxiii. 23. 1 Cor. ii. 2. 
1 Tim. i. 5, 6. Tit. i. 11—14. 2. The glory of God and the 
edification of souls ought to be earnestly and chiefly intended, 
Col. iii. 17. 1 Pet. iv. 11. 1 Cor. xiv. 3. We ought always 
to speak and hear as in God's presence, and in the view of 
our speedilv accounting to him for our conduct, Psalm xvi. 8. 
Eccl. xii. 14. 2 Cor. v. 10—12. Mat. xii. 36, 37. 

VI. Prayer, by which we, as it were, draw to ourselves 
the blessings which God communicates by other ordinances. 
It is sometimes characterized from the postures of our body 
used in it, as bowing, kneeling, stretching forth the hand, &c. 
Psalm xcv. 6. cxxi. 1. xxviii. 2.; or, it is called meditation, 
supplication, pouring out the heart, lifting up the soul, &c, PsaL 
v. 1, 2. vi. 9. lxii. 8. xxv. 1. } to mark the judicious, earnest, 
and humble manner in which it is or ought to be performed. — » 
It is performed either solitarily by one's self, at stated times, 
or occasionally, while one is occupied about other business, 

Matth. vi. 6. Psalm lv. 17 Neh. ii. 4, 5. Judg. xv. 18. xvi. 

28. — Or socially, in families or voluntary societies, Jer. x. 25 > 
Josh. xxiv. 15. Acts x. 2, 30. xx. 36. Mat. xviii. 19, 20. ; or 
in publick assemblies, 1 Kings viii. 22—54. 2 Chron. xx. 5— 
13. Acts xiv. 23. 

Prayer includes invocations of, or addresses to God by his 
names and titles ;~— adoration of him as possessed of infinite 

3Z 



522 OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES, 

excellencies ;— -confession of our meanness, sinfulness, and 
wants ; — deprecation of judgments inflicted or feared ;— petition 
for things that we need ; — pleading with arguments for that 
which we ask ; — dedication of ourselves to God and his ser- 
vice ; — thanksgiving for the mercies which we have received, 
or have ground to expect ;— and blessing him for what he it 
in himself. Or, it consists in, 1. Confession of our sins, origi- 
nal and actual, in thought, word, and deed, with their several 
aggravations, Job xxxiii. 27. Psalm xxxii. 5. xxxviii. 18. Isa. 
vi. 5.1xiv. 6. Jer. iii. 13. Rom.vii. 14 — 25. Dan. ix. Ezra ix. 
This is the duty of all men while on earth, as they are all 
guilty of, and polluted with sin, Rom. iii. 19, 20, 23. Ezek. 
xvi. 62, 63. ; and ought to be made under a deep sense of sin, 
Rom. iii. 19, 20. vii. 9 — 24. Psalm xl. 11 — 13. xxv. 11. lxv. 
3. cxxx. 3. ; in the assured faith of God's mercifully forgiving 
it through Christ's blood, Psalm cxxx. 3, 4. lxv. 3. Prov. 
xxviii. 13.; with an hearty detestation of sin, and desire tore- 
form from it, Jer. xxxi. 18. 2 Sam. xxiv. 10. Isa. lxiv. 6. vi. 
5. Job xl. 4.xliii. 5, 6. ; and with self-debasing shame and grief 
for sin, Job xlii. 5, 6. Psalm vi. xxxviii. lxx. li. 2. Thanks- 
giving for mercies received, offered, or secured, whether tem- 
poral, spiritual, or eternal, and even the lightness, short dura- 
tion, or usefulness of troubles, as well as deliverance from 
them,*— to ourselves or others, Psalm xcv.— c. ciii. cv. cvii. 
cxvi. cxvii, cxviii. cxxxv. cxxxvi. cxlv.— cl. Eph. v. 20. Phil, 
iv. 6. Gen. xxxii. 10. Psalm xxxvi. 6, 7. cxix. 67, 71, 75. 
2 Cor. iv. 17. 3. Petition to God for what mercies we need, 
or for what things are agreeable to his will, being required by 
his law, or contained in his promise ; — for whatever tends to 
the honour of his name, the coming of his kingdom, and the 
doing of his will on earth ; or to our real advantage in tempo- 
ral provision, pardon of sin, and preservation from it, Mai. vi. 
9 — 13.-! — Confession supposes our guilt and pollution; thanks- 
giving our unworthiness ; and petition our emptiness and wants. 
—Confession and petition have place only on earth ; but 
thanksgiving also for ever in heaven. 

Prayer is a divine ordinance to be observed by men. 1. It is 
often commanded in Scripture, Mat. vii, 7 — 14. Eph. vi. 18. 
Phil. iv. 6. Rom. xii, 12. Col. iv. 2. Matth, xxvi. 41. James 
v. 13. ; to which might be added a multitude of texts, which 
point out for whom, for what, and in what manner we ought to 
pray. 2. The characters in which the divine persons are re- 
presented to us, require and encourage prayer : God is a gra- 
cious hearer of prayer, Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. Isa. lxiii. 7. 15. 
Matth. vii. 7 — 11. Psalm lxv. 2. 1. 15.xci. 15. Isa. lviii. 9. lxv. 
24. Psalm ix. 18. x. 17. cii. 17. Christ is a kind and an affec- 
tual Intercessor, the way to the Father, and an all-comprehes* 



9t INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 523 

sive Saviour, Heb. iv. 14 — 16. x. 19—22. vii. 25. ix. 24. Rom. 
viii. 34. Rev. viii. 3,4. Eph. ii. 18. iii. 12. John xiv. 6. Psalm 
ex. 4. lxviii. 18. 1 John ii. 1, 2; And the Holy Ghost is the 
Spirit of Adoption, and of supplication, and an Intercessor with- 
in us, Gal. iv. 6. Zech. xii. 10. Eph. ii. 18. vi. 18. Jude 20. 
Rom. viii. 15, 26, 27. 3. We have many approved examples 
of prayer by Christ and his saints, Matth. xiv. 23-. xix. 15. 
xxvi. 39—45. Luke vi. 12. ix. 29. John xvii. Gen. xviii. 
25 — 33. xxvj 22. xxxii. 9 — 12, 24 — 28. Exod. xxxii. xxxiii. 
Xxxiv. Deut. ix. Num. Xii. xiv. Deut. xxxiii. Josh, vii* 1 Kings 
viii. 2 Chron. xiv. xx. Ezra ix. Neh. i. ix.- Psalm iii. — txliv. 
Dan. ix* Acts i- 14. ii. 42. xii. 5. xiii. 3. xiv. 23. vi. 4. Rom. 
i. 9, 10, &c. 4. Believers' new nature and their new-covenant 
relations to God require it, while they continue in their imper- 
fections on earth, where their sinSj their wants, their enemies, 
their troubles, their mercies bestowed and promised, and their 
duties required, are so numerous, Acts ii. 42. Gal. iv. 4, 5. Rom. 
viii. 15, 26, 27. 1 Pet; ii. 5. Psalm cxvi. 12, 16, 17. cxix. 
5. The present state of churches and nations, magistrates and 
ministers, &c. with which we are connected on earth, requires 
it, Mat. vi. 9, 19. Rev. xxii. 20. Psalm lxxii. 15, 19. 1 Thess. 
v. 25. 2 Thess. iii. 1. Eph. vi. 18, 19, 20. 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2. Dan„ 
ix. 20. Matth. v. 44. 6. The neglect of prayer is charged as 
an heinous sin, Isa. xliii. 22. lxiv. 7. Hos. vii. 7. Dan. ix. 13< 
Psalm x. 4. Jer. x. 25. It is a practical denial, contempt, and 
robbery of God, — a denial and contempt of Christ as Mediator* 
and of all the. methods and blessings of redemption through him, 
a resisting and quenching the Holy Ghost, and a wilful ruining 
ourselves and our neighbours in time and eternity. 

God alone is the Object of prayer and all other religious wor- 
ship. 1 . It is demanded for him, and exclusively of all others, 
Matt. iv. 10. Deut. vi. 13. x. 20. 2. He alone is the object 
of that faith from which all prayer ought to proceed, Rom. x. 

14. Jer. xvii. 5. 3. He alone can discern whether our prayers 
be sincere, proceeding from our heart, Jer. xvii. 10. Rev. ii. 
23. Psalm Ixvi. 18. 4. He alone can hear and answer our 
prayers, in forgiving our sins, and bestowing all necessary mer- 
cies, Psalm lxv. 2. 1. 15. xci. 15. Mic. vii. 18, 19. Psalm xx. 
cii. Isa. lviii. 9. lxv. 24. lxiii. 16. Nor is our prayer to him 
unnecessary, though he knows all our sins and wants, and has 
unalterably purposed what, when, and how he will apply his 
mercies and judgments ; but it is his appointed mean of fulfil- 
ling his purposes and promises, and of obtaining his mercies 
and preventing his judgments, Ezek- xxxvi. 25 — 37. Psalm xci. x 

15. 1. 15. Jer. xxxiii. 3.. Psalm xiv. 11. Mark xi. 24. 

All men while they live on earth ought to pray to God. Be- 
lievers, to the delight of Christ and his Father, make prayer a 
principal part of their work, 1 Cor. i. 2. Psalm xxjv, 6. Luke 



HU OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 

xi. 1—13. xviii. 1—7. Matth. vii. 7—11. John xvi. 24, 26. 
Song li. 14. viii. 13. vii. 5. And wicked men ought to pray : 
1. Prayer is a duty required by the mere light of nature, Jon. 
i. 5, 6, 14. Acts xvii. 26. 2. Their neglect of prayer is repre- 
sented as highly criminal, Psalm x. 4. xiv. 4. Ixxix. 6 Jer. x. 
25. Rom. i. 21. Hos. vii. 14. Dan. ix. 13. Job xxxvi. 13. 
3. Every thing mentioned in the Lord's prayer is proper to be 
asked by them, Matth. vi. 9 — 13. 4. God expressly calls wick- 
ed men to pray j and has often answered, though never ac- 
cepted, their prayers, Acts viii* 22. Psalm cvii. 6, 14, 19, 20, 
29. Gen. xxi. 17« Jon. iii — Though their prayer, as well as their 
ploughing, be abominable to God, in the manner and end of it, 
Rom. xiv. 23. Prov. xv. 8, 9. xxviii. 9. xxi. 4. 27. Psalm cix. 
17.} yet the matter of it being good, the neglect of it is a greater 
abomination. Their immediate duty, therefore, is to get their 
state and nature renewed by Christ, that they may pray aright, 
Matth. vii. 13. Luke xiii. 24. ; and earnestly to use prayer as a 
divinely instituted mean of that renovation, Acts viii. 22. 

We are not to pray for the dead, as their state and condition 
are unalterably fixed, Luke xvi. 22 — 27. 2 Sam. xii. 21 — 23. 
Nor for the pardon of the sin against the Holy Ghost, or such 
as we certainly know to have committed it, John v. 16. But 
we ought to pray for all sorts of men living, or that shall live 
hereafter on earth, — Christians, Jews, Mahometans, Heathens, 
noble and ignoble, 1 Tim. ii. 1, 2. John xvii. 20. 2 Sam. viu 
29. Psalm xc. 14 — 17. ; and to abound in prayer for them, ac- 
cording to our connection with them, and the importance of 
their station and difficulty of their work, Gen, xxxii-9 — 12. 
Psalm iii. iv. v. vi. &c. 2 Cor. xii. 7 — 9. Isa. xxxviii. 14. — Par- 
ticularly for the church of Christ, Eph. vi. 18. Psalm xxviii. 9- 
li.. 18. cxxii. 6. Amos vi. 1, 6. ;— -for ministers, 1 Thess. v. 25. 
Rom. xv. 30, 31. Col. iv. 3. 2 Thess. iii. 1. Eph. vi. 19,20.; for 
magistrates, 1 Tim. ii. 1,2. Psalm lxxii. 1. xx. Prov. xxi. 1.; for 
the nation and place in which we live, Jer. xxix. 7. ; for the af- 
flicted, Psalm xxxv. 13, 14. James v. 14. Acts xii. 5. j for our 
families, friends, and relations, Job i. 5. xlii. 10. James v. 16. 
Epfy. i. 16 — 20. iii. 14 — 19. 2Sam. xii. 16. Gen. xvii. 18. xxiv* 
12. 2 Kings vi. 17.; nay, for our enemies, Matth. v. 44. Luke 
xxiiiy 34. Acts vii. 60. Psalm xxxv. 11 — 14. And we ought 
to confess the publick sins of past generations, and thank God 
for their mercies, as well as of the present, Ezra ix. Neh. ix» 
Dan. ix. Lev. xxvi 40. Psalm lxxviii. cv. cvi. cxxxvi. 

We ought to pray, 1. Under the influence of God's Spirit, 
and with our own heart deeply engaged, Eph. vi. 18. Jude 20. 
Phil. iii. 3. 1 Cor. xiv. 15. Jer. xxix. 13. 2. Deliberately, 
Psalm v. 1. Eccl. v. 1, 2. 3. Judiciously, with true knowledge 
of our own guilt, pollution, weakness, and wants, and need of 



OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 525 

Christ, in his person, offices, fulness, and work, and of God in 
him, — and of the true object, matter, and manner of prayer, 
Psalm li. xxxviii. lxv. 2. 2 Cor. xiv. 15. Eph. i. 17. 4. Reve- 
rently, under a deep impression of the infinite majesty, holi- 
ness, power, mercy, justice, goodness, and truth of God, Psalm 
lxxxix. 7. Hab. i. 12, 13. Gen. xviii. 25 — 30. Exod. xxxiv. 6, 
7. Num. xiv. 18, 19. 5. Humbly, with a deep sense of our un- 
worthiness, sinfulness, and wants, Gen. xviii. 27. xxxii. 10. 
Luke xv. 17, 18, 19. xviii. 13, 14. Psalm x. 17- cii. 17. 6. In 
the name of Christ, — united to his person, — in obedience to his 
command, — in the strength of his grace, — with confidence in 
his promise, — and dependence on his righteousness and inter- 
cession, as the ground of God's accepting and answering our 
prayers, John xv. 7. xvi. 23, 24. Heb. iv. 14 — 16. Col. iii. 17. 
1 Pet. ii. 5. Matth. xxi. 22. 1 John ii. 1, 2. Heb. vii. 25. x. 
19 — 22. Eph. ii. 18. iii. 12. Rev. viii. 3,4, 34. 1 John v. 14. 

7. In the assured exercise of faith upon the promises, perfections, 
and relations of God as in Christ, believing that he will cer- 
tainly grant our requests, Psalm lxii. 8. James i. 6, 7. Mark 
ix. 23. xi. 24. Matth. xxi. 22. Rom. x. 14, 15. Heb. xi. 6. 

8. In love to, desire after, and delight in God, and an affec- 
tionate regard to all those for whom we ought to pray, Gal. iv. 
6. Isa. lxiii. 15,16. 1 Tim. ii. 8. 9. With much brokenness 
and enlargement of heart, Psalm li. 17. lxii. 8. Phil iv. 6. 
1 Sam. i. 10, 15. 10. With sincerity, inward truth and candour 
answerable to our confessions, petitions, and thanksgivings, 
Psai. xvii. 1. civ. 18. Heb. x. 22. Psal. lxvu 18. xliv. 18 — 22. 
11. With boldness and familiarity, Heb. iv. 16. Job xxiii. 3. 
Rom. viii. 15. Gal. iv. 6. 12. Withfervent importunity, James 
v. 16. Luke xi. 8. xviii. 1 — 7. Mark x. 47, 48. Matth. xv. 
22 — 28. Gen. xxxii. 26. Exod. xxxii. xxxiii. xxxiv. Deut. ix. 
Num. xiv. 13. With humble submission to the will of God with 
respect to the season, form, or degree of his granting the mercy 
which we ask, Psalm x. 17. Luke xviii. 9 — 14. Matth. xxvi. 
39. John xii. 27. Rom. viii. 26, 27. 2 Cor. xii. 7—10. 14.With 
watchfulness and perseverance, Eph. vi. 18. Luke xviii. 1 — 8. 
xi. 5—13. Isa. lxii. 1, 6, 7. Matth. vii. 7—11. 15. Hopefidly t 
waiting for a gracious answer in God's granting us the mercy 
we asked, or another more proper in its stead, in his own time 
and way, Psalm lxxxv. 8. v. 3. Mic. vii. 7—9. Isa. viii. 17. 
xxx. 18. Job xxxv. 14. Psalm xxvii. 13, 14. cxxx. 5,6. Heb. 
x. 36. vi. 11, 12.— Such submission, persevering, watchfulness, 
and humble waiting, manifest that God has accepted our 
prayers in Christ, and will answer them in due time, Psalm vi. 

9. lvi. 8. xx. 4. 1. 15. xci. 15. Isa. lviii. 9. lxv. 24. 

The word of God is our encouragement to, and director in 
prayer.— By its commands, promises, and records of the success 



52$ OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 

of prayer, it encourages us to pray. Its doctrines, laws, histo- 
ries, prophecies, promises, threatenings, and forms of prayer, in- 
struct and direct us concerning the object, matter, and manner 
of that duty.— That form which Christ taught his disciples is a 
superlatively excellent pattern of prayer, representing to us in a 
few words our encouragement to, and the manner and order of" 
it. But it was not prescribed to be a stated form used on al- 
most every occasion* It is differently expressed by the Evan- 
gelists Matthew and Luke : In Matthew, where it is most fully 
recorded, we are only required to pray after this manner. Nei- 
ther Christ nor his disciples appear ever to have used it as a 
form, but prayed in other words as their occasions required. 
Nor does it plainly include either confession or thanksgiving. 

Forms of prayer which are truly evangelical may be of use 
to assist children and such as are very ignorant. But restriction 
of men to forms of prayer is unlawful. 1. It cramps our de- 
sires, and thus quenches the Holy Ghost, who is our divine and 
stated assistant, Rom. viii. 26, 27. 2. It inverts the true or- 
der of prayer, making our words to regulate our desires, instead 
of our desires regulating our words, Psalm lxii. 8. 3. It re- 
strains the exercise of our understanding and other inward 
powers, and obliges us to walk on crutches, whether we need 
them or not. 4. It naturally leads us into a mere lip-ser- 
vice, cools and flattens our spirits, especially if the prayers be 
read. 5. It renders us slothful in our observation of provi- 
dences, — and in our examination of our state, condition, sins, 
wants, mercies, — or in searching the Scriptures for direction in 
prayer, or in stirring up our gifts and graces, or in supplicating 
the assistance of the Holy Ghost. 6. No form can suit every 
case either of soul or body, as of Jonah in the whale's belly, 
Daniel in the lions' den, &c. 7. Even nature teaches the ab^ 
surdity of such restriction. No children need a book or form, 
to be read, or even repeated, in conversing with their parents, 
or in asking food, raiment, &c. from them. No naked, hungry 
or distressed beggars need a form from which they may read 
their desires of relief. 8. Though an habitual impression and 
frequent consideration of our own and others* needs, and of the 
promises of, and pleas for supply be very necessary before 
prayer, especially in those that are the mouth of others, yet we 
have no instance of any restriction to forms of prayer in the 
Bible, but even they who officiated in publck under the influ- 
ence of the Holy Ghost, and of their own judgment, poured 
forth their requests suited to the occasion, 1 Kings viii. 22 — 54. 
1 Chron. xxix. 10 — 19. 2 Chron. xx. 5 — 12. Neh. ix. Acts h 
24, 25. 

The Holy Ghost assists men in their prayer, 1. By disposing 
them to search the Scriptures, and thus gives them the gift of 



OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 527 

prayer, which lies in a readiness to address God in a grave, de- 
cent, and orderly manner, calculated to move their own, or the 
affections of such as join with them in it. — This is sometimes 
bestowed upon unregenerate men. 2. By giving them the grace 
of prayer, which lies in an habitual disposition and ability of 
heart, to pour forth candid confessions of sinfulness and misery, 
thankful acknowledgment of mercies received or secured, and 
earnest supplications for necessary favours from God. This is 
bestowed only upon believers in his powerfully discovering to 
them their needs, and their encouragement to ask the supply 
thereof, — and in directing their heart to fix upon that which is 
fit to be granted, and enabling them to ask it in faith and fer- 
vency, and patiently to wait for the bestowal of it. 

VII. Ministerial blessing people in the name of the Lord, 
in dismissing them from publick ordinances; which is not mere- 
ly a supplication of divine favours, but chiefly a solemn decla- 
ration of God's good- will to them. It is an ordinance of divine 
appointment, Num. vi. 23—26. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. Rev. xxii. 21.; 
in all which texts every thing necessary to render men holy and 
happy through time and eternity is comprehended, wished, and 
announced. This solemn benediction is to be ministered and 
received, 1. With great reverence, Psalm lxxxix. 7. Lev. ix- 
22. Heb. xii. 28, 29. 2. With solid understanding of the bless- 
ings announced, and of the manner of their conveyance to us, 
Hos. iv. 6. Prov. xix. 2. 3. With serious consideration, and 
humble sense of our need of those blessings implored and offer- 
ed, Eph. v. 15, 17. 4. With ardent desire of actual and eter- 
nal enjoyment of them, Psalm xlii. 1,2. lxxxiv. 2, 10. 5. With 
fervent love to all concerned in this benediction, 2 Cor. xiii. 11, 
13. 6. In the assured faith and joyful hope of God's fully con- 
ferring all these blessings on us and others, 2 Chron. xx. 20. 
Mark ix. 23. xi. 24. Isa. vii. 9. 

VIIL Singing of Psalms in publick, private, and secret? 
1 Chron. xvi. Exod. xv. Isa. lii. 7 — 9. Acts xvi. 25. Mat. xxvi .. 
30. Psalm cxviii. 15. James v. 13. This is a moral duty. 1. We 
have the example of Christ, angels, and apostles for it, Matth, 
xxvi. 30. Job xxxviii, 6, 7. Luke ii. 13, 14. Acts xvi. 25. 
2. We have an express commandment of God for it, respecting 
the New Testament church, Psalm xlvii. 1 — 6. Col. iii. 16. ii. 
16, 17. Eph. v. 19. ii. 14, 15. 3. God's command respecting 
it extends to Gentiles as well as Jews, Psalm lxvii. 4. Ixvi. 1, 
2. cxvii. 1, 2. 4. It is distinguished from, and opposed to ce- 
remonial worship, Psalm lxix. 30, 31. 5. It was performed 
before most of the laws of Moses were given, is, and will be af- 
ter they are abolished, Exod. xv. l-*-22. Isa. xxvi. 19. Rev, 



528 OP INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 

xiv. 3. v. 9. xv. 3, 4. xix. 1,2. — We ought to sing psalms, 

1. With understanding. Psalm xlvii. 7. 1 Cor. xiv. 15. 2. Un- 
der the influence of the Holy Ghost, and with our own spirit 
fixer}, 1 Cor. xiv. 45. 3. To the Lord, Col. iii. 16. Eph. v. 19. 
4. With inward joy, James v. 13. Luke i. 47. 5. In the name 
oj Christ, Col. iii. 16, 17. 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9. 6. With affections 
suited to the psalms sung, Psalm xiv. 1. cviii. 1. 

IX. Vowing is the making a solemn promise to God, in 
which we bind ourselves to do or forbear somewhat for the pro- 
moting his glory. A vow is not a mere acknowledging the 
obligation of God's law upon us, nor a placing ourselves more 
directly under any of his commandments than he has done, nor 
a constitution of any new relation to his law ; but it is a laying 
upon ourselves a new obligation, as distinct and different from 
that of the law of God as that of the commands of parents, 
masters, or magistrates, or civil or of sacred bonds between 
man and man. 1. In his law God binds us by his authoritative 
command. In our vow we, by an act of our own will, bind our- 
selves by a voluntary engagement, Num. xxx. 2. The obliga- 
tion of God's law must ?iever be examined, but in order to know 
its meaning and extent. But all vows ought to be tried in 
their matter and manner by his law, in order to know whether 
they be lawful and binding or not, Isa. viii. 20. 3. God's law 
binds all men whether they will or not. Vows bind none but 
such as take them, and those whom they represent in that deed, 
Deut. v. 3. xxix. 14, 15. Num. xxx. 4. God's law binds all 
men to absolute perfection in holiness. Our vows do not bind us 
to absolute perfection, but to the most sincere and strenuous en- 
deavours we can, by the grace of God assisting us, Psalm xliv. 
17. 5. God's law binds all men to such perfection for ever. 
Our vows bind only to that which is proper in this present life — 
But, as every lawful vow is made in the rightexercise of power 
and authority over one's self, derived from God and his law ; 
and its obligation formed in an act of obedience to his authority 
and law ; and having his law for the supreme rule and standard 
of its matter ; and the more perfect observance of his law, in 
order to his glory, for its chief end, — the law of God must ne- 
cessarily ratify it, and, under the highest pains, require the ex- 
act fulfilment of it- 
Vowing to God is, 1. Warranted by the very light of nature; 
nothing being more reasonable than for men rightly to bind 
themselves to serve God better than they have done, Jon. i. 16. 

2. The Scriptures expressly command it, Psalm lxxvi. 11. 

3. God gives directions concerning it, Lev. vii. xxvii. Num. vi. 
xxx. Deut: xiL xxiii. 4. God plainly approves it and accepts 
k, if done in faith, Gen. xxviii. 20. xxxi. 13. Num. xxi. 2, 



OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 529 

f Sam. i. 11, 12. Psalm lvi. 12. lxi. 5. cxix. 106. cxxxii.2. Isa. 
xix. 18, 21. xliv. 5. xlv. 21, 24. 2 Cor. vih. 5. 5. God requires 
our attentive regard to, and exact performance of our vows, 
Gen. xxxi. 13. LK ut. xxiii. 21 — 23. Job xxii. 27. Eccl. v. 4, 5. 
Neh. i. 15. Psalm 1. 14. Prov. xx. 25. Psalm xxii 25. lxi. 8. 
Ixvi. 13. cxvi. 14s 18. cxix. 106: Jon. ii. £>. 

The matter to which xve bind ourselves in avow, must be,. 

1. That dutv which God has commanded in his law, Psal. cxix- 
106. 2 Chron. xv. 1% 13. xxxiv. 31. Neh. x. 29, 30, 31. Or, 

2. That which in ou^ circumstances conduces to promote holi- 
ness, so long and so far as it does so, Num. vi. xxx. Lev. xxvii. 
Gen. xxviii. 20. 1 Sam. i. 10 — 18. 3. That which, assisted by 
the grace of God, is in our power to perform, Num. xxx. Eccl. 
Vii.20. Jamesiii.2. 1 John i. 8, 10. Gal. v. 17. Kom. vii. 14— 25. 
— And the vow respecting such matter may be made either, 1. 
Inwardly in our heart, lSam. i. 10 — 18. Or, 2. By some sign 
expressive of our self-engagement, as by partaking of the sacra- 
ments, Gal. v. 3. 1 Pet. iii. 21. 1 Cor. x. 16, 17. xi- 23—26. 
Or, 3. In words assented to. or pronounced, written, or sworn, 
Isa. xliv. 5.— And it may be either personal,* in which one man' 
solemnly gives up himself as ignorant, guilty, polluted, empty,, 
perverse, and unprofitable to God in Chrisc, as his Instructor, 
Forgiver, Sanctifier, Supplier, Portion, and Master, according. 
to the tenour of the covenant of grace ; and engages himself, by 
the assistance of God's Spirit, to manifest his gratitude in uni- 
versal holy obedience, if not also in some particular parts or 
means of it, Isa. xliv. 5. xix. 18, 21. xlv. 23, 24. Psalm cxix. 
106. Ixvi. 13, 14. cxvi. 10— 19. lxi. 5,8. lvi. 12. Gen. xxviii, 
20. ; — or social, in which the lesser or greater part of a nation 
or church jointly and solemnly devote themselves to the Lord,. 
Josh. xxiv. 15. Isa. xix. 18, 21. Exod. xxiv. 7, 8. xix. 5, 6*- 
Deut. v. 2, 3. xxvi. 16 — 19. xxix. 1—15. Josh. xxiv. 24, 25. 
2 Chron. xv. 12, 13. xxiii. 16. xxix. 10* xxxiv. 30—32. Ezra 
x. 3. Neh. ix. x. Jer. xxxiv. 8—10. 2 Cor. viii. 5. 

All vows ought to be made, 1. Deliberately, Eccl. v. 2, 6 

2. Judiciously, knowing their nature and contents, Jer. iv. 2»- 

3. In truth, candidly resolving to perform them, Jer. iv. 2. 

4. In righteousness, fully certain that every thing vowed is 
lawful in itself,and answerable to our station and circumstances, 
Jer. iv. 2. 5. Humbly, Psalm cxvi. 16. Luke xvii. 10. Hab. 
ii. 4. 6. Evangelically, obtruding no covenant of our own upon 
God, nor pretending to purchase or requite his favours by our 
services,— but giving up ourselves to him, as sinful and nnwor- 
ihy, to receive his gracious benefits, and even holiness itself, as 
a free privilege, that we may practise it, as our bound duty, Ps 
cxvi. 16. cxix. 32. Isa. xliv. 3—5. Luke i. 74, 75. Heb. xii- 
2a. 7. Our vows, being made, must be cjuicklv and careful!*; 

4 A 



530 OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 

performed, Deut. xxiii. 21 — 23. Eccl. v. 4, 5. Prov. xx. 25. 
Psalm lvi. 12. lxi. 8. cxix. 106. lxvi. 13, 14. cxvi. 14, 18.— 
And being thus made and performed, vows are profitable, l.As 
an instituted mean of our fellowship with God, and receiving 
out of Christ's fulness, Isa. xix. 18, 21. xliv. 4, 5. xlv. 23,24. 
lvi. 4, 6. 2. To engage us to a more exact regard for the ser- 
vice of God, Psalm cxvi. 12 — 19. Job xiii. 15. 3. To increase 
our love and firm adherence to the truths of God and practice 
of holiness, Josh. xxjv. 15. Psalm cxix! 106. Phil. i. 27, 28. 
4. To fortify us against sinful compliances with temptation, 
Jude 3,20, 21. 

X. Religious Fasting is an ordinance of God. 1. The light 
of nature requires it, Jonah iii. 2. God more or less directly 
commands it, Lev. xxiii. 27. Joel ii, 12. James iv. 9. Matth. 
ix. 15. 3. He encourages men's practising it, Joel ii. 15—17. 
Zech. xii. 10 — 14. 4. He gives direction how to perform it, 
Joel ii. 15 — 17. Matth. vi. 16 — 18. 5. It is closely connected 
with prayer, one of the most noted duties of the Christian life, 
Matth. xvii. 21. Acts xiii. 3. xiv. 23. 1 Cor. vii. 5. 6. We 
have many approved and successful examples of it, 2 Sam. xii. 

16. Psalm xxxv. 13. 2 Cor. xi. 27. Deut. ix. Josh. vii. Judges 
xx. 1 Sam. vii. 1 Kings xxi. 27 — 29. 2 Chron. xx. Ezra ix- 
x. Esther iv.— x. Dan. ix. x. Jonah iii. Mat. iv. Acts x. — It 
includes in it, 1. Partial or total abstinence from food, in order 
to promote solemn devotion, Jonah iii. 7. Dan. x. 3. 2 Sam, 
xii. 16, 17. 2. Serious searching our heart, and considera- 
tion of our ways, Zeph. ii. 1. 2 Cor. xiii. 5. Hag. i. 5. Lam. 
iii. 40. 3. Deep humiliation before God on account of our sin- 
fulness and miseries, Joel ii. 12, 13. Isa. lxiv. <>. Job xl. 4. 
Dan. ix. Ezra ix. 4. Candid acknowledgment of our sin, Neh. 
ix. 3. Dan. ix. 20, 21. 5. Gospel repentance towards God, 
Joel ii. 12, 13. Jer. iii. 12 — 14, 21—25. Ezek. xvi. 63. xxxvi. 
31, 32. 6. Earnest prayer for forgiveness of, and cleansing 
from sin and deliverance from trouble, or for mercies needed, 
Ezra viii. 21. ix. x. Neh. ix. Dan. ix. 7. Solemn, evangelical 
covenanting with God, Jer. 1. 4, 5. Neh. ix. 38. Deut. xxvi. 

17, 18. Psalm cxvi. 16 — 19. Isa. xliv. 3 — 5. lvi. 4, 6. 

As religious fasting is either, 1. Personal, 2 Sam. xii. 16. 
Luke ii. 36, 37. Dan. x. 2, 3. Acts x. 30. Matth. vi. 16 — 18. 
2 Cor. xi. 27. 2. Private, in families, Zech. xii. 12 — 14. j or, 
3. Publick, in congregations, churches, and nations, 1 Cor. v. 2- 
1 Sam. vii. 6. 2 Chron. xx. 5. — We are called to it by God, in 
the appearances of his providence, 1. When he has been re- 
markably dishonoured, 1 Sam. vii- 6. 1 Cor. v. 2. 2. When we 
much need some special favour from him, Dan. ix. 1 — 3. Acts 
. vi. 6. xiii. 2. xiv. 23. Ezek. xxxvi. 37. Mat. xvii. 21. 3. When 



OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 531 

some fearful judgment is threatened, Jonah iii. 4— 7- 2 Sam. 
xii. 16. 1 Kings xxi. 27. 4. When we or others lie under 
some remarkable tokens of God's wrath, James v. 13. Psalm 
xxxv. 13. Neh. i. 3,4. Joel i. ii. Isa. xxii. 12. Matth. ix. 15. 
But he has left it to men to fix the particular day or hour of 
it, by the general rules of doing all things in charity, decently, 
and in order, to the use of edifying, and to his glory, 1 Cor. xvi. 
14. xiv. 26, 40. x. 31. Every person has power to fix the 
precise time of his own secret fasting or solemn thanksgiving. 
Heads of families must fix the precise time of private fasts, or 
thanksgivings. Societies must fix their time for fasting by mu- 
tual agreement of, at least, the majority, Zech. xii. 12--- 14.--- 
Ministers and elders must fix the time of congregational fasts, 
Acts xiv. 23. xiii. 3.— -Church rulers met in the name of Christ 
have the power of appointing general ecclesiastical fasts, Joel i. 
ii. — Civil rulers, as heads of their political families, and minis- 
ters of God for good to them, have power to appoint national 
fasts, for promoting the welfare of the commonwealth, 1 Sam. 
vii. 6. 2 Chron. xx. 1 — 13. Ezra viii. 21. x. Neh. ix. Jer. 
xxxvi. 6. Jonah iii. 5---7. 

All religious fasts ought to be observed, 1. To God's glory, 
Zech. vii. 5. 2. In the name of Christ, Dan. ix. 19. Zech. xii. 
10 — 14. 3. With much tenderness and brokenness of heart, 
2 Cor. vii. 9—13. Dan. ix. Ezra ix. Neh. ix. 4. Followed with 
much humility, deep and lively sense of the sins lamented, and 
turning from them to God, and active abounding in the fruits 
of holiness, Luke xviii. 13. Psalm li. 2, 3. Matth. iii. 8. 
The ends of such religious fasting are, 1. To put honour on the 
perfections and providence of God, Zech. vii. 5. Josh. vii. 19. 
Jer. xiii. 16. 2. To lament our own and others' sinfulness, un- 
worthiness, and troubles, and to impress our conscience and 
heart with a deep sense of them, Dan. ix. Ezra ix. Neh. ix. 
2 Chron. xxx. 22. Jer. iii. 13,21—25. Ezek. vii. 16. 3. To mor- 
tify our body and the deeds of it, 1 Cor. ix. 27. Rom. viii. 13. 
4. To promote the fervour of our supplications, Dan. ix. Jon. 
iii. 5. To promote our turning to God, Joel ii. 12. Jer. 1. 4, 5. 

XI. Solemn Thanksgiving to God for his spiritual or tem- 
poral mercies is warranted, 1. By the light of nature. 2. By 
the express command of God, Psalm 1. 14. 3. By the approved 
example of saints, Exod. xv. 1—22- Judges v. 1 Sam. ii. 1—10. 
2 Chron. xx. 26. 4. It is one end of God's bestowing his fa- 
vours, Psalm cvi. 4, 5. 5. The neglect of it much provokes 
God to withdraw his mercies and annex a curse to them, Hos. 
ii. 8, 9.— It is either personal, Sam. ii. 1—10. 2 Sam. xxii- 
Luke i. 46,47, &c. ; or private, Judges v.; or publick, Exod. xv. 
1 Chron. xvi. 2 Chron. xx. 26. It supposes an observed re- 



532 OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 

ceipt of God's free favours, Psalm cxvi. xviii. ciii. cv. evii. 
cxxxvii. cxxxviii. cxlv. — cl. J and implies a grateful sense of 
•them, Psalm xxxvi 6, .7- cxvi. 12, 16. Gen. xxxii. 10.; and a 
solemn return of praises to him for them, Psalm c. ciii. civ. cv. 

cvii. cxxxvi. Exod. xv. 1 Chron. xvi. And it ought to be 

performed, .1. As to the Lord, Rom. xiv. 5, 6. 2. Judiciously, 
.knowing for what, how, and to what end we thank him, Psal. 
ciii. 1 — 8. 3. In the Spirit, and not in carnal mirth, 1 Cor. 
xiv. 15. James v. 13. Psalm cviii. 1. 4. Evangelically, as a 
cordial expression of gratitude to God for his favours, not with 
any intention to requite him for them, Psalm cxvi. 12 — 19. 
5. With faith, and in the name of Christ, Eph. v. 20. Col. iii. 
,17. 1 Pet. ii. 5. Heb. xiii- 15. 6. With cheerfulness of heart, 
Judges v. 12. If. To a proper end, viz. 1. To glorify God, 
ascribing to him the praise of all his undeserved mercies, Psal. 
1. 23. 2. To promote our own spiritual welfare, rendering our 
heart more affected with God's kindness to us,— fortifying our 
mind against dejections, and making our obedience more liberal, 
JPsalm xlii. 5, 6. Hos. ii. 14, 15. 3. To promote the publick 
,credit of religion, Jsa. ii. 4, 5. Zech. viii. 20 — 23. 

iBesirjes the above-mentioned plain ordinances of the new 
.covenant, there are others of ajigurative nature, which are em- 
blems of Christ and his benefits. These chiefly had place un- 
der the Old Testament, and were typical, in so far as they pre- 
figured that which was then future; but sacramental, in so far 
jts they sealed and applied Christ and his benefits to believers.— 
These typical ordinances included the extraordinary sacraments 
of Noab'sark, Heb. xi. 7. 1 Pet. iii. 21. ; the rainbow, Gen. ix. 
12 — 18. fsa. liv. 9, 10. Rev. iv. 3. x. 1. ; the pillar of cloud and 
fire, Exod. xiii. 20—22. 1 Cor. x. 1, 2. ; the Israelites' passing 
through the Red Sea, Exod. xiv. 15. 1 Cor. x. 1, 2. ; the manna, 
Exod. xvi. 1 -Cor. x. 3. John vi. 31— -56. ; the water-yielding 
rock, Exod. xvii. 2 — 8. 1 Cor. x. 4. ; the sacrifices, Gen.iv. 4. 
viii. 20. ; and the ordinary sacraments of circumcision and the 
passover, Gen. xvii. Josh. v. Exod. xii. Num. ix. 

Every Sacrament, whether of the Old or of the New Tes- 
tament is an holy ordinance instituted by Christ, in which, by 
sensible signs, Christ, and the benefits oj the new covenant, art 
represented, sealed, and applied to believers, and they are solemn- 
ly dedicated to his service. The Matter of every sacrament is 
sensible signs, and spiritual things represented by them. And 
the form is that union which is constituted between the signs 
and things signified, by the authority, institution, and promise 
xof Christ, 1 Cor. x. 16. Exod. -xii. 1 Cor. v. 7.— —No sacra- 
ments axe absolutely necessary to salvation, as they do not put 



OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 333 

«en into a state of it, but suppose them already in it : and 
main have been saved without partaking of them, Rom. iv. 11. 
1 Cor. xi, 28. Mark xvi. 16. But it is nevertheless proper 
that Cod should appoint them, and that we should receive 
;them. 1. Our bodies as well as our souls being redeemed by 
the blood of Christ, it is proper that his benefits of redemption 
should be in part communicated to us under corporeal signs. 
2. Amidst our present childhood and weakness, it is proper that 
God. in gracious condescension, should give us such seals of his 
covenant as may strike our senses, while they represent the 
foundations of our redemption, and oar interest in it. 3. God, 
by such visible confirmations of his covenant, makes them simi- 
lar to those that are used among men in other matters. 4. It 
is proper that bodies, which are to inherit eternal life, be con- 
secrated to it, by an use of holy things. 5. It is proper that 
church-members should be distinguished from others, and should 
•edify each other by some visible tokens of their principles, state, 
faith, and hope. But the mere administration or partaking 
of sacraments conveys no saving grace to the receivers. 1. It 
is not their nature to contain or produce inward grace, but to 
signify and seal that which God brings along with them. The 
rainbow gave God's full security against a second universal de- 
luge ; but it did not hinder the waters from rising, or rain from 
falling. Seals annexed to the patents or donative letters of 
kings do not confer any thing, but merely confirm the royal 
grants contained in the sealed writs. 2. If the sacraments of 
themselves conferred or produced inward grace, it must be by 
some natural power of the corporeal signs, or by some spiritual 
power infused into them, — both of which are equally absurd. 
.3. Common sense loudly proclaims, that material signs can ne- 
ver produce purification, or nourishment, in a soul. 4. Scrip- 
ture declares, that mere partaking of sacramental signs is of no 
avail for securing our salvation, Rom. ii. 25 — 29. Gal. vi. 15. 
v. 6. 1 Pet. iii. 21. 1 Cor. xi. 27—29. 5. All the blessings 
which are sealed by the sacraments to believers, are ascribed to 
the Mercy and Grace of God, not to the operation of the out- 
ward signs, Isa. i. 18. xliii. 25. Ezek. xxxvi. 25 — 31. Phil. ii. 
13. 6. Faith and repentance are pre-required, as necessary to 
render sacraments effectual for salvation, Mark xvi. 16. 1 Cor. 
xi. 27 — 29. 

Nevertheless sacraments are not mere marks of our Christian 
profession, or mere signs of spiritual benefits ; but, being made 
effectual by the blessing of Christ and the working of his Spirit, 
Exod. xx. 24. 1 Cor. iii. 5 — 7. 2 Cor. iii. 17. 1 Cor. xii. 13. 
they are of use, 1. To assist our spiritual meditation, 1 Cor. x. 
16. 2. To seal and apply Christ and his benefits to such as re- 
ceive them by faith, exhibiting these benefits, and directing the 



A34 OP INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 

promises to us, and conveying that which they contain to us :— 
God therein giving us a solemn investiture of right to them and 
infeftment in them ; and, along with the signs, conferring the 
first fruits of eternal happiness, as an earnest of the full com- 
munication of it in due time, Rom. iv. 11. 1. Cor. x. 16. 3. To 
confirm and increase our faith to receive his gifts, Heb. vi. 17, 
18. 4. To produce and enliven our spiritual experience. 5. To 
impress our mind with just sentiments of gratitude as a debt 
which we owe to Christ, and his Father and Spirit ; and to 
make us heartily devote ourselves to him, Eph. v. 2. Psalm 
cxvi. 12, 16. 6. To distinguish church members from others, — 
marking at the same time the source of the difference, Gal. iii. 
27. 7. To be publick bonds of conjunct profession and mutual 
love among Christians, 1 Cor. x. 16 — 18. 

The sacraments of the New-Testament, instituted by Christ, 
which have come in room of the now abolished ones of circum- 
cision and the passover, are baptism and the Lord's Supper : 
which two agree in their authour, age, or period, general signi- 
fication, solemnity, administrators, and adult subjects ; but dif- 
fer in their immediate end, their fulness of representing Christ 
and his benefits, — their repetibleness ; and that infants are ca- 
pable of receiving baptism, but not of receiving the Lord's Sup- 
per. — To these two, papists have added ordination, marriage y 
confirmation, penance, and extreme unction, none of which have- 
any appointment in the word of God as sacraments : and the 
three last, as used by them, have no warrant at all. Ordina- 
tion belongs only to church officers. Marriage is a common 
privilege of mankind. But papists exclude their clergy and de- 
votees from it, as a state of unchastity. 

None but ministers of the gospel have any warrant from Christ 
to administer his sacraments pertaining to it. 1 . He authorises 
them, and them only, to administer them, Mat. xxviii. 19. 
1 Cor. xi. 2, 23. iv. 1, 2. Heb. v 4. 2. All those that admin- 
istered them in the apostolick age had either an ordinary or 
extraordinary call to the ministerial office, Luke i. iii. 1 Cor. 
xii. 28,29. Eph.iv. 11, 12. — The candid intention of adminis- 
trators in dispensing sacraments, is absolutely necessary to jus- 
tify their own conduct before God, but not to render these or- 
dinances true and real sacraments to the receivers. 1. Minis- 
ters, in their ministrations, being but the servants of Christ and 
his people, their intention can neither add to, nor detract from 
the essence or validity of any divine ordinance, 2 Cor. iv. 5, 7. 
2. The efficacy of the word preached does not depend on the 
intention or importance of the preacher, Phil. i. 18. 1 Cor. iii. 
6. 3. If the intention of administrators were necessary to con- 
stitute the essence or validity of sacraments, wicked clergymen 
might, at their pleasure, rob men of the seals of God's cove- 



OP INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 535 

nant, or confer them upon the most unfit receivers* 4. All 
would be left at an absolute uncertainty, whether they had ever 
received baptism or the Lord's Supper as a sacrament of Christ 
or not. — Among papists, for want of this intention of adminis- 
trators, which they pretend to be necessary in baptism, almost 
all may be in an unbaptized state of damnation. For want of 
it in the Lord's Supper, the elements may be unconsecrated ; 
and so mere bread and wine, offered, worshipped, and received 
as Christ himself ; for want of it, in their ordination no sacred 
office may be conferred ; and so all their priests, for many ages, 
but mere laymen. — Through want of itm marriage, the parties 
may but enter on a life of whoredom.— Through want of it in. 
penance, there may be no absolution from sin, or the misery en- 
tailed on it. — Through want of it in extreme unction, there may 
be nothing in it but a consignation of the dyiug person to the 
devil and his angels. — Through want of it, according to their 
own principles, there may have been no Christianity among 
them who knows how long. 

I. Baptism is a sacrament, xvherein the washing with water in 
the name of the Father, the Son, and the H..Iu Ghost, does signify 
and seal our ingrafting into Christ, and partaking oj the benefits 
of the covenant, of grace, and our engagement to be the Lord'*. — It 
was for a long time customary with the Jews to wash or baptize 
their proselytes when their wound of circumcision was healed. 
But never till the ministry of John, our Lord's forerunner, was 
baptism appointed by God as an ordinance of his covenant, 
Mat. iii. Our Saviour himself baptized none with water, but 
with the Holy Ghost, which was thereby represented, John iv. 
1, 2. Matth. iii. 11. But, during his debased ministrations, he 
appointed his twelve disciples to baptize multitudes, John iii. 
26. iv. 1,2.; and a little before his ascension he gave them a 
stated commission for life to preach the gospel, and to baptize 
all nations, Mat. xxviii. 19. John's baptism differed from that 
of the Christian church, as it related to Christ as not yet mani- 
fested, Acts xix. 4. ; and did not clearly exhibit the mystery of 
the three persons in one Godhead : But they agreed in their 
sign of water, Mark i. 4. Acts viii. 36, 38. ; in their pre-requi- 
sites of faith and repentance, Luke iii. 3, 8—14. Acts ii. 38. ; 
and in their signification of pardon for sin, regeneration, &c. 
Mark i. 4. Acts ii. 38. Tit. iii. 5. — and hence our Saviour, in 
order to initiate himself a member of the New Testament 
church, partook of John's baptism, Mat. iii. 13—17- 

The outward sign in baptism is mere wafer solemnly blessed 
for that purpose, Mat. iii. 11. Acts viii. 36, 38. x. 47. 1 Pet. 
iii. 20, 21. ; — which may be applied by dipping the whole body 
in water, or by sprinkling with it the face, a principal part of 



526 OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES; 

the body. For, 1. Eis HYDOR,when used with respect to bap- 
tism in Scripture, signifies no more than to the water, and Ek- 
Hydatos no more than from the water. 2. Neither at Enon, 
where there were many waters fit lor the refrt shment of the as- 
sembled multitudes; nor at Gaza, where the Eunuch was bap- 
tized, can I find a probability of their being waters proper for 
the dipping of multitudes over head and ears, John iii. 23. Acts 
viii. 26, 36 3. Nor is it probable that the multitudes that 
were baptized in Jerusalem were dipt in some pool ;— nor, that 
the jailor at Philippi and his family went off from the prison at 
midnight, and sought some pool into which they might plunge 
their whole bodies. Acts xvi. 33. 4. The word baptize in Scrip- 
ture does not always, if ever, denote plunging into water, Mark 
vii. 4, 8. Luke xi.38,- 1 Cor. x. 2. Heb. ix. 10. 5. That which 
is represented by baptism is called a sprinkling the blood of 
Christ, 1 Pet. i. 2. Heb. x. 22. xii. 24. Isa. Iii. 15. Ezek 
xxxvi. 25. 

Baptism is not absolutely necessary to salvation. 1 . Mere parti- 
cipation of sacraments does not render men partakers of salva- 
tion, 1 Pet. iii. 21. 1 Cor. xi. 27, 29. Rom. ii. 28, 29. 2. If 
baptism were absolutely necessary to salvation, it would be in 
the power of men to save or damn others as they pleased, by- 
giving or withholding it. 3. The nature of baptism, as a seal 
of the new covenant, and of the righteousness of faith, imports 
men's antecedent interest in that covenant. 4. Many have had 
real grace, and so been in a state of salvation, before they re- 
ceived baptism, as Paul, Gal. i. 16. ; Cornelius, Acts x. 35, 44, 
45, 47. ; Peter's converts, Acts ii. 41. Those who are regene- 
rated in their mother's womb are in a state of salvation before 
they are capable of baptism. The converted thief went to 
heaven without it, for ought appears, Luke xxiii. 43. 5. Others, 
as Simon the sorcerer, have been baptized, and nevertheless 
continued in an unregenerate state, Acts viii. 13, 20—23. 1 John 
ii. 19. 6. It is the want of faith, not of baptism, that damns 
men, Mark xvi. 16. Where baptism is manifestly omitted in 
the last sentence, in order to shew that men may be saved with- 
out it. But baptism is necessary, 1. As an ordinance of Christ- 
which is to be continued in the church to the end of the world, 
Mat. xxviii. 19, 20. 2. As an ordinary mean of fellowship with 
Christ, and of receiving grace from him, and honouring him 
before the world, Rom. vi. 3 — 5. 

The washing with water in baptism,in the name of the Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost, does signify and seal, 1. Our solemn ad- 
mission into Christ's family as members of it, not in order to 
make us such. In this a three-one God and his ministerial de- 
puties solemnly acknowledge us members. The Christians pre- 
sent acknowledge us brethren. And we, when baptized, pro* 



OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 537 

less ourselves embodied with tliem,as a society separated from 
the world to the service of God in Christ, 1 Cor. xii. 12, 13. 
Acts ii. 41. 2. Our ingrafting into Christ, by spiritual union 
with his person as our Root, Head, and Husband, Gal. Hi. 27- 
Rom. vi. 3, 4. 3. Our solemn partaking of the benefits of the 
covenant of grace, particularly of Christ's righteousness and 
justification throughit, Rom. vi- 4. Actaii. 38. xxii. 16.; Adop- 
tion into God's family, and relation to him as our God, Gal. 
iii. 26,27. 2 Cor. vi. 18. Acts ii. 38, 39. ; Regeneration after 
his image, Tit. iii. 5. 1 Pet. iii. 21. Rom. vi. 3 — 5. Col. ii. 11 
— 13. John iii. 3, 5, 6. ; and a joyful resurrection to everlasting 
life and happiness, Rom. vi. 4, 5. 1 Cor. xv. 29. 4. Our so- 
lemn profession of our faith in the declarations of the gospel 
relative to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and our interest 
in them in all their new covenant relations, — and solemn sur- 
render of our persons, and all that we have, to be their pro- 
perty, and disposed of and employed as they please, according 
to the tenour of that covenant, John iv. 1. Rom. vi. 4. Isa. xliv. 
3 — 5. Acts ii. 39. 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20. Eph. iv. 1. v. 1, 2, 11- 
1 Cor. xii. 12 — 14. 

None but regenerated persons have a right to baptism before 
God. 1. The having the Holy Ghost, faith, and repentance, are 
requiredas necessary pre-requisites of baptism, Acts x. 47. viii. 
36, 37. ii. 38. 2. Sacraments, hc'ingconfirming ordinances, sup- 
pose those who receive them to be already instated in the cove- 
nant of grace ;— and being sea/s, cannot be divinely set to a 
blank, Rom. iv. 11. Col. i. 11, 12. Gal. iii. 27.— —None but 
such as appear truly regenerated have a right to baptism before 
men. 1. If none but real saints have a right to it before God, — 
none but such as have the appearance of saints can have a right 
to it before the church. 2. That which is holy ought not to 
be given to dogs, Mat. vii. 6. Prov. xxvi. 11. 2 Pet. ii. 18,20, 
22. Psalm xiv. 1—4. 3. Men ought to be made Christ's dis- 
ciples before they receive baptism, John iv 1. Mat. xxviii. 19. 
And none ought to be reckoned Christ's disciples but such as ap- 
pear to have heard and learned of the Father ; and manifest 
their knowledge and faith by their good works, John vi. 44, 45. 
Mat. vii. 20, 21. Tit. i. 16. 1 Tim. v. 8. 4. The Scripture re- 
presents men as baptized upon appt-arances of saintship, Mat. 
iii. 6. Acts ii. 41. viii. 12, 13, 37, 38. ix. 18. x. 47, 48. xvi. 14, 

15, 32, 33. xviii. 8. 5. Admission of persons manifestly wick- 
ed, is a fearful profanation of sealing ordinances, Lev. x. 8 — 10. 
Ezek. xxii. 26. xliv. 9. 

The infants of parents, one or both visible saints, have aright 
to baptism before the church. 1. Christ's general charge to bap- 
tize all nations includes them, Mat. xxviii. 19. Mark xvi. 15, 

16. where the world and nations are opposed to the Jews, 

4 B 



iJS OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 

whose infants were circumcised. And certainly infants are in- 
cluded in nations. 2. The children of believers are in covenant 
with God, Gen. xvii. 7. Acts ii. 38. 39. ; and therefore may en- 
joy the seal of that covenant which is competent for them, — for 
which no pre-examination of the subjects is necessarily requir- 
ed, — in which no eating or drinking are necessary, — and ut the 
leading blessings represented in which they are capable, viz. 
union with Christ, justification, adoption, regeneration, and re- 
surrection to everlasting life. 3. Infants in the Jewish church 
were admitted to circumcision, which represented much the 
same things as baptism, Gen. xvii. 10 — 14. And it ought to 
be observed that Christ came not into the world to cur: ail the 
privileges of his church, 'but to enlarge them; — that infants are 
as capable of baptism as of circumcision ; — and that baptism is 
represented as a circumcision, Col. ii. 11, 12. 4. Infants, such 
as Christ could carry in his arms, are members of the kingdom 
of God, Matth. xix. 13. Mark x. 14. And if members, why 
deny them the primary seal of membership ? 5. Infants of one 
or both believing parents are holy, — not by legitimacy, for 
that is not the point there handled ; nor is the faith of at least 
one parent necessary to it j — but federally holy, as belonging to 
God, and separated to his service, 1 Cor. vii. 14. 6. Whole 
families were often baptized, as cf Lydia, and of the jailer of 
Philippi, Acts xvi. 15, 33.; Stephanus of Corinth, 1 Cor. i. 16, 
&c. ; in which families, it ought to be presumed that there were 
infants, till the contrary be proved. 7. Infants of believing 
parents were baptized in all the primitive ages of the Christian 
church. Even Pelagius, whose learning was considerable, and 
who had travelled through a great part of the Christian world, 
and whose darling opinions powerfully tempted him to deny in- 
fant baptism, declare that he had never heard of any who de- 
nied infants' right to baptism ; and complains of the report of 
his denial of it as a vile slander cast upon him. 

Objec. I. " There is no express warrant in Scripture for 
" baptizing infants." Answ. 1. There is an express com- 
mand of God to circumcise infants ; and there is equal reason 
to baptize them, Gen. xvii. 10 — 14. Col. ii. 11, 12. 2. There 
is a command to baptize nations, of which infants are a part, 
Mat. xxviii. 19. 3. There is a new covenant promise respect- 
ing the infants of believers, Acts ii. 39. xiii. 46. 4. There is 
no more express command or reason for observing the Chris- 
tian Sabbath, nor for xvomeii's partaking of the Lord's Supper, 
than is for the baptism of infants. 

Objec. II. " We have no express instance of the baptism of 
" infants in Scripture in the history of the church for about 
" thirty years." Answ. 1. For almost two thousand years, from 
Abraham to John Baptist, we have not one instance of the cir- 



OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 559 

cumcision of an infant on the eighth day. Will it therefore fol- 
low that no infants were circumcised, or none on the eighth day, 
all thai time ? There is no instance of baptism in the churches 
of Antioch, Iconium, Home, Thessalonica, or Colosse. Were 
therefore none of their members baptized ? It is not common for 
historians to give particular instances of that which is altoge- 
ther common. 2. It is incumbent upon our opposers to pro- 
duce instances of the refusal of baptism to the children of be- 
lieving parents till they were capable to vow for themselves. 

Objec III. " Infants can receive no benefits from baptism." 
Anmw. 1. If parents can settle upon them an earthly inheritance, 
what can hinder God to settle .upon them an heavenly felicity ? 
Wnat can hinder him to bestow upon them all the blessings re- 
presented in bapcism ? 2. If they received benefit by circumci- 
sion, why may thev not receive as much from baptism ? And 
can they not be laid undtr obligations to serve God by the one 
as *rell as by the other ? Gal. v. 3. 

Objec IV. " Faith and repentance, and the profession 
u thereof, are required as pre-requisites of baptism." Answ. If 
infants can be saved, what hinders them to have the habits of 
faith and repentance ? And as for the profession of them, it is 
only required of adult persons. 

Children derive their right to baptism from their immediate pa- 
rents. 1. If they derived their right to baptism from their me- 
diate parents, the children of some, if not all Heathens and Ma- 
hometans, would have a right to it, because of their descent 
from some pious ancestor. Nevertheless they are represented 
as aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the cove- 
nants of promise, without Christ, and having no hope, and with- 
out God in the world, 1 Cor. vii. 14. Eph. ii. 12. 2. If infants 
derive their right to baptism from mediate parents, they must 
either derive it from their most remote ancestor ; and then all 
must be baptized as descended from pious Noah, Enoch, &c. 
Or the extent of the derivation of that right must be fixed ; 
which it no where is in Scripture. If it be pretended that it 
extends to a thousand generations, then all the infantsof heathens 
have a right to it ; as perhaps none of them are, or ever will be 
at the distance of three hundred generations from Noah, Abra- 
ham, &c If that right extend to a thousand generations, how 
can the curse of God lie on the children of wicked men to the 
third and fourth generation? Or how could the Jews have 
been unchurched, when scarcely in the sixtieth generation from 
Abraham, in whom they were taken into covenant with God ? 
3. Notwithstanding the eminent piety of their ancestors, the 
infants of the Jews that lived in the apostolick age were un- 
churched along with their immediate parents. But why, unless 
the sin of these immediate parents had procured it? Rom. xi> 



540 OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 

16, 20. 4. Children are rendered federally holy through the 
faith of their immediate father or mod r, 1 Cor. vii. 14- 
5. The children of wicked parents are by God, in his word, 
declared cursed, Deut. xxviii. 18. But how can they, who 
are visibly cursed by God, have a visible right to the seal of his 
promise and blessing ? 

No infants, but such as are immediately descended from one or 
both parents, visible believers, have any right to baptism before 
the church. 1. Since they derive their right from their imme- 
diate parents, it must either be derived from their being bap- 
tized, or from their being visible believers. It cannot be de- 
rived from their baptism, as that becomes null and void, if 
they be wicked, Rom. ii. 25. It is quite absurd to allege, 
that no more is here meant than that circumcisiun is unprofit- 
able to justify men, except they keep the law : for in that re- 
spect it would be unprofitable though millions of good works 
attended it, Gal. iii. 10. ii. 16. Rom. iii. 20. 2. Parents* 
right of access to the Lord's table, and their infants' right to 
baptism, stand or fall together. Such church-members as have 
offended b\ one or a few scandalous steps in their conversa- 
tion, have their right continued ; but they are disqualified to 
use it till their offence be removed. But such as appear un- 
holy in the general tenour of their practice, manifest that they 
have no right at all ; and consequently their children have 
none. In vain it is pretended, that the Holy Ghost may enter 
into the heart of an infant who is descended from parents both 
of them manifestly wicked : for though he should, yet that 
child's right before God to baptism could never be manifested 
to the church till it could profess and act for itself. 3. The 
children of parents visibly wicked are declaratively cursed by 
God, Deut. xxviii. 18. How then can he allow them in bap- 
tism to be solemnly declared visibly blessed? James iii. 10, 
11. 4. Such as have no discernible evidence of their being 
within Gods covenant of grace, as is the case with the infants 
of wicked parents, can have no visible claim to the seal of it. 
Though these parents had been baptized, nay regularly bap- 
tized, yet if their baptism profit not themselves, how can it 
profit their seed ? 5. Faith and repentance are required in 
parents, to render their children federally holy and admissible 
to baptism, 1 Cor. vii. 14. Acts ii. 38, 39. 6. None but such 
as are visible believers have any mark of God's being their 
God and the God of their seed, Gen. xvii. 7- Jer. xxxi. 33. 
7. If the children of manifestly ungodly parents have any real 
right to baptism, the church ought to put them into posses- 
sion of it. But what could be done in this matter? The pa- 
rents are incapable to educate these children in a Christian 
manner. It would be but a solemn mockery of God to bring 



OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 541 

them under vows relative to it, while their practice continues 
an habitual contradic ion to them.— It would be no better to 
lay these vows on a sponsor, who could not, or would not, 
have the children under his power. 8. Baptizing the infants 
of parents manifestly wicked, renders that solemn ordinance^ 
altogether common, and declares those church-m<-mbers that 
are not visible saints ; and so makes the church a society not 
separated from the world, — contrary to John xviii. 36. 1 P^t. 
ii. 5, 9. Eph. ii. 12. 19, 20. 1 John v. 19. Rom. ix. 29. 9. If 
wicked parents have no right to baptism themselves, and their 
children derive their right from them, as has been proved, the 
children of such parents can have no right to it. 10. The 
faithful exclusion of the infants of wicked parents from bap- 
tism has a remarkable tendency to promote the ends of the 
gospel, which calls men to unite with Christ by faith, and so 
denv ungodliness im<\tvor Idly lusts, and live soberly, righteously , 
and godly. Parents would not be hardened in their wicked- 
ness, by an unlawful admission of them to sealing ordinances. 
None would be tempted to believe themselves true Christians, 
merely on account of their being baptized. Hearers of the 
gospel would not be tempted to indulge themselves in ignor- 
ance and wickedness, in hopes of having their infants baptized 
notwithstanding. Baptism would not be reckoned less solemn 
than the Lord's Supper, or profaned as a common thing. 

Objec. I. " All the infants of Christians are within God's 
" covenant." Answ. Will that infer that the manifest ene- 
mies of God, who have nothing but the name of Christians, 
or their children, are within God's covenant ? Has Christ a 
confederacy with Satan, when he is but called an angel of 
light ? 

Objec. II. " Children ought never to suffer for their pa- 
rents' sins." Answ. 1. Must then all the infants of hea- 
thens, who are born as innocent as those of Christians, be 
baptized ? 2. If no children ought to be excluded from ad- 
mission to the church for their parents' sins, the Jews must 
still be the peculiar people of God, as well as in the days of 
Moses, David, &c. 3. Does not God, in manifold instances, 
visit the iniquities of the parents on their children, Exod. 
xx. 5. ? 4. The withholding baptism from the infants of 
wicked parents is no proper punishment of these infants ; but 
a not giving them that-to which they have no right, and 
which, if given them, would do them no good, but hurt. 5. 
If magistrates may take occasion to execute both father and 
son, who were guilty of preceding treason, — from the father's 
continued repetition of his treason, why may not God justly 
take occasion, from the wickedness of parents, to punish their 
children as themselves deserve by their original sin ? 6. Must 



542 OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 

all children, even of Christians, be put into possession of in- 
heritances to which their parents never had any right ; or 
which they had prodigally squandered away ? How absurd 
and wicked the pretence ! 

Objec. III. " The heresy and impiety of wicked parents 
" never excluded their children from circumcision." Answ- 1. 
If heresy do not exclude men from baptism, neither will 
atheism, 1 John ii. 22. 2. If no heresy or profaneness exclude 
men from baptism, why did John Baptist and Peter the 
Apostle require repentance as a pre-requisite of it, Matth. iii. 
2, 6, 8. Luke iii. 3, 7 — 14. Acts ii. 38. iii. 19. 3. Where is 
the proof that the infants of Hebrews, who were notoriously 
profane, were admissible to circumcision ? Did God allow 
those parents to be sustained members of his church, whom he 
cut off from his people, and did not suffer to live on his earth, 
Deut. xvii. 12. Num. xv. 30, 35, 36.? Had the infants of the 
profane contemners of the promised land any circumcision al- 
lowed them, till, as adult persons, they received it in their 
own right ? And where is the evidence that Joshua circum- 
cised any that were heretical or profane, Num. xiv. Josh. v. ? 

Objec IV. "John baptized every person that offered him- 
" self to his baptism." Answ. 1. Must then all Heathens and 
Mahometans be baptised, if they offer themselves to it? 2. 
John does not appear to have baptized so much as one, but 
on proper evidence of repentance of former sins, Matth. iii. 
2, 6 — 12. Luke iii. 3, 7 — 14. 3. He did not baptize the pro- 
fane Pharisees or Sadducees, Luke vii. 30. 

Objec V. " God calls the children of the idolatrous Jews 
" his children, Ezek. xvi. 20." Answ. Perhaps these children 
were God's peculiar property, being first born, Exod. xiii. 12, 
13. Num. iii. 13. viii. 17.; or, they may be called his children 
in the same sense as the silver and gold, corn and ivine,Jlax and 
wool, are called his, Hag. ii. 8. Ezek. xvi. 17 — 19. Hos. ii. 5, 
8, 9. 

Objec VI. "If only the infants of visible believers be al- 
" lowed baptism, then whole families and parishes will be 
" paganized. Nay, as we have no rule to state who are visi- 
" ble believers, many infants of Christians will be robbed of 
" baptism." Answ. 1. It is no honour for Christ to have pro- 
fane persons, similar to brutes and devils, openly reputed his 
members. 2. God's word is a sufficient rule for distinguish- 
ing professors from the profane, 2 Tim. iii. 15 — 17. 3. None 
can be visible believers, who have no appearance of faith in their 
practice : for true Christians are known by their fruit, Mat. 
vii. 17, 20. Gal. v. 16—24. 

Objec. VII. " Though many parents be wicked and scan- 
" dalous, yet they were made Christians by their baptism." 



*)F INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 543 

Answ. As a single scandal in parents does not necessarily in- 
fer their being destitute of the grace of God, their children 
may have a right to baptism, though these parents, until their 
scandal be purged, be disqualified from presenting them. But 
when parents, by their habitual behaviour, manifest themselves 
graceless, — their being once baptized can no more avail their 
children, than it avails those of a prodigal that their father had 
once a rich estate. 

Baptism ought to be administered, 1. With water, in the 
simple manner prescribed by Christ, 1 Cor. xi. 2, 23. 2. Ex- 
pressly in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
Ghost, as three divine persons, the same in substance, and equal 
in power and glory, Matth. xxviii. 19. 3. With preaching 
the gospel immediately preceding it, Matth. xxviii. 19. Mark 
xv i. 15, 16. 4. And for this reason, as well as because it is 
a mystery of God, it ought to be administered by those only 
who are stexvards or ministers of Christ, 1 Cor. iv. 1,2. Rom. 
x. 15. Matth. xxviii. 19. 5. As preaching must attend it; — 
as it is a solemn declaration of visible church-membership ; — 
as much effectual fervent prayer is necessary to render it effi- 
cacious ; — as it affords opportunity for others to be impressed 
with, and renew their baptismal engagements ; — and as pri- 
vate administration of it tends to make persons, like the 
papists, believe it absolutely necessary to salvation, it ought 
to be publickly dispensed, Matth. xxviii. 19. 6. It ought to 
be administered with much gravity, and serious, not supersti- 
tious solemnity, Psalm lxxxvii. 7. 

Baptism ought to be improved by such as have received it, 
1. By labouring to have just apprehensions of the nature, use, 
and ends of it. 2. By serious and deep-fixed remembrance of 
the mercies and vows represented by it. 3. In fulfilling the 
vows therein made, — through an exercise of faith on Jesus 
Christ. 

II. The Lord's Supper is a sacrament, wherein, by giving 
and receiving bread and wine according to Christ's appointment, 
his death is shewed forth; and thexvorthy receivers are not, after 
a corporal and carnal manner \ but by faith made partakers of his 
body and blood, with all his benefits, to their spiritual nourishment 
and growth in grace. Or, it is the sacrament of our spiritual 
nourishment, in which, by the divinely appointed use of bread 
and wine, is represented, sealed and applied, the saints' commu- 
nion in grace and glory with their once crucified, but now ex- 
alted Saviour. — It is called the Lord's Supper, 1 Cor. xi. 20.; 
Blessing, 1 Cor. x. 16. Matth. xxvi. 26.; the Eucharist or 
thanksgiving, Mat. xxvi. 27. 1 Cor. xi. 24.; the Lord's table 
I Cor. x. 21. i the breaking of breads 1 Cor. x. 16. Acts ii. 42, 



544 OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 

46. xx. 7. ; and the communion of the body and blood of Christ, 
1 Cor. x. 16. 

The outward signs in this sacrament are bread of anv kind ; 
for Christ took that which was readiest; and wine of any kind 
or colour. The eating the bread, and drinking the wine, being 
always connected in Christ's example and command, ought ne- 
ver to be separated, Mark xiv. 23. 1 Cor. x. 16. xi. 26. Nor 
does the disjunctive mention of the bread and cup infer the 
dropping the cup more than the bread. Disjunctive particles 
are often put for copulatives, Rom. iv. 12. 1 Cor. xiii. 8. Mat. 
v. 17. Eph. vi. 8. — Besides, the end of this sacrament is to re- 
present the blood or death of Christ. — The cup contains in a 
figure the remission of sins, of which papists think their clergy 
have as little need as their laity. 

The bread and wine in the Lord's Supper are not changed into 
the real body and blood of Christ. 1. Such a transubstantia- 
tion of them is contrary to the testimony of our senses ; and so 
completely undermines the whole proof of all the miracles by 
which God has confirmed his revelations to men : Nay, over- 
turns almost all certainty in the world. 2. According to such 
a transubstantiation, the same body of Christ is alive and dead 
at once; is in heaven, and in a thousand or ten thousand dif- 
ferent and distant places on earth at once ; accidents remain 
without a substance, and a substance exists without accidents. 
— The glorified body of Christ is apt to become food for dogs 
and moths, and with wicked communicants to go into hell fire, — 
all which are perfectly absurd, contrary to reason and common 
sense. 3. Such transubstantiation is contrary to the end of this 
sacrament, which is to represent and commemorate Christ, not 
to sist him corporally present, 1 Cor. xi. 24, 25. 4. It is con- 
trary to Scripture, which represents Christ's body as whole, and 
his blood in his veins, when he first administered this sacra- 
ment, and declares that it is bread that is broken, and wine 
that : is drunk, Matth. xxvi.26 — 30. lCor.x. 16, 17. xi. 23 — 29-: 
and that the heavens must contain Christ's manhood till the last 
day, Actsiii. 21. 

Objec. I. " God is almighty, andean do everything." Answ. 
Omnipotence cannot work contradictions and nonsense. 

Objec. II. "Unless the elements'be changed into the very 
" body and blood of Christ, we receive mere bread and wine in 
"the Lord's Supper." Answ. 1. We spiritually receive his 
body and blood, as well as we do his Spirit and blood in bap- 
tism, where no transubstantiation is pretended. 2. Though 
Christ be not corporally present, yet, as God-man Mediator, he 
is symbolically and spiritually present. 

Objec. III. "Christ expressly calls the bread his body" 
Answ- 1. The Jews had no other than the verb am, is, are, 



OF INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 545 

to be, to mean signify or represent ; and this signification of 
their substantive verb was altogether common among them. 
Hence circumcision is said to be God's covenant, Gen. xvii. 10. 
F.arsoi corn, and kine, are said to be years of plenty or famine, 
Gen. xii. 26, 27. The paschal lamb to be the passover, i. e. an 
act of the angel, Exod. xii. 11. The Water-yielding rock to be 
Christ, 1 Cor. x. 4. The Sabbath to be the Lord's covenant, 
Exod. xxxi. 15, 17. J and Christ said to be a rose, lily, and vine, 
Song ii. 1. John xv. 1. 2. Our Saviour plainly intimates, that 
he meant no more, but that the bread and wine represented, 
sealed, and applied his body and blood, — in his words : This 
cup is the New Testament in my blood, which if read without al- 
lowing any figure would infer another transubstantiation of his 
blood into the New Testament ; and be read thus, This my 
bloodis the New Testament in my blood. What absurd nonsense! 

The Lutheran pretence, that the material body and blood of 
Christ are corporally present with, in, and under the bread 
and wine, is scarcely less absurd. For, 1. How can a body at 
once be visible and invisible ; felt and unfeelable; present in 
heaven, and in multitudes of places on earth ? Heb. ii. 14. Luke 
xxiv. 39. Acts iii. 21. 2. In Christ's own administration of 
this sacrament, how could his body, at once, be present with 
his disciples giving the bread and wine to them : and yet, in the 
bread and wine given and received in remembrance of him, 
1 Cor. xi. 23 — 26. 3. How can his body be broken and his 
blood shed on every sacramental occasion, when he is now glo- 
rified. 4. The Scripture represents his manhood as no more 
in this lower world, but in heaven, Acts iii. 21. Heb. i. 3. viii. 
4. John xii. 8. xiv. 28. xvi. 7, 28. xvii. 11. 

In the Lord's Supper there is no oblation of Christ's body and 
blood as a sacrifice to make atonement for the sins of the quick 
and the dead. 1 . The Scripture never intimates that there is any 
sacrifice made in it. 2. Such oblation of sacrifice is inconsist- 
ent with the declared design of this sacrament to commemorate 
Christ's person and work, and hold fellowship with him, 1 Cor. 
xi. 24, 25. x. 16. 3. It is contrary to the oneness of Christ's 
priesthood and sacrifice, in which he alone offered himself, 
John x. 18. Heb. vii. 24. ix. 28. x. 10, 14. 1 Tim. ii. 5. Heb. 
ix. 14, 15. And there is but one offering of him, Heb. vii. 27. 
ix. 12, 28. x. 10, 14. 4. The absolute perfection of Christ's 
sacrifice of himself excludes all repetition of it, Heb. x. 1 — 14. 
ix. 12^-15, 28. i. 3. xiii. 12. 1 Pet. i. 18, 19, 20. ii. 24. iii. 1». 
Rev. v. 9. 2 Cor. v. 21. Rom. v. 9—11, 16—21. viii. 3, 4. x. 
4. Dan. ix. 24. 5. In this sacrament, there is nothing like to 
an oblation of sacrifice ; — not an altar, but a table, 1 Cor. x. 21 .; 
no visible substance sacrificed ; — no death, bj.it a commemora~ 

4C 



_346 0*' INSTITUTED ORDINANCES. 

tion of that which had formerly happened ; — nor is Christ here 
given to God, but to men. 

To anticipate objections, It must be observed, 1. ThatMel- 
chizedek brought forth bread and wine for refreshment to 
Abram's fatigued troops, but not to be offered in sacrifice, Gen. 
xiv. 18- 2. That the paschal lamb was not a type of this sacra- 
ment, but of Christ himself. 3. That the daily sacrifice offered 
under the New Testament is not the Lord's Supper; but prayer, 
praise, and good works, Mai. i. 11. 

All professed Christians, come to years of discretion, arebound 
by the law of God to partake of the Lord's Supper, and it is 
their sin, if they be incapable of regular admission to it. — Only 
true believers have a right to it before God. — Only true be- 
lievers, who have examined themselves, and are actually exercising 
their faith and love, can rightly use this privilege, 1 Cor. xi. 
23 — 29. — Three things are necessary to a right partaking of 
the Lord's Supper. 1. A worthy state of union with Christ as 
our husband, father, righteousness, and strength. 2. A worthy 
frame in the actual exercise of all the graces of the Spirit, know- 
ledge, faith, repentance, love, &c. 3. A worthy end of honour- 
ing Christ, glorifying God. and receiving spiritual nourishment 
to our soul, 1 Cor. x. 26 — 31. xi. 23 — 29. 

From the whole nature of this ordinance, and what Christ has 
required in relation to it, it is manifest that it is a most horrible 
profanation of it, either to impose or receive it as a condition of 
civil office or liberty, or as a test of loyalty. 

Reflect. My soul, has God in Christ been at such pains in 
ordinances and influences to save and sanctify me ! Why then 
do not I stir up myself to take hold of him ? In which ordi- 
nance, and when, did God Almighty appear unto me and bless 
me ? When and where hath the Lord made me lie down in 
these green pastures ; and fed me beside these still waters P 
When saw I my King in these lattices, and held him in these 
galleries ? Alas ! how long have I lien at these pools of mercy 
without being put in ! How long and often have I lien as an 
ox or ass, at these wells of salvation, without drinking their 
living water ! 

The Old and New Testament dispensations of the Cove- 
nant of Grace, agree, 1. In their Author, God in Christ, Heb. 
i. 1. 2. In their matter ; the Law and the Gospel being alway 
the substance'of both, Psalm cxlvii. 19- Gal. iii. 8. Tit. ii. 
11 — 14. iii. 8. Gal. v. 6. 3. In the blessings offered and be- 
stowed ; — -union with Christ, justification, adoption, regenera- 
tion, sanctification, spiritual comfort, and eternal glory, Job 
six. 25. xxxiii. 24. Isa. Ixiii. 16. Ezek. xxxv? «*« •*"'. Psalm 



OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT DISPENSATIONS. 547 

Ixxxvi. 3. lxiii. 2 — 7. Ixxiii. 24 — 26. 1 Cor. i. 30. iii. 22. Rorn. 
Vrii. 29, 30. 4. In requiring the same end, and the same exer- 
cise of faith, repentance, love, and new obedience, in attending 
their ordinances, Isa. lv. 1 — 7. Psalm xcvi. 6 — 8. lxxxix. 7. 
Matth. xi. 28, 29. Heb. x. 22. 5. In their ordinances, having 
no spiritual efficacy of themselves to save men j and hence often 
least effectual when best dispensed, as by Moses, Isaiah, Christ, 
Paul, Deut. xxix. 4. Isa. vi. 9, 10. xlix. 45. liii. 1. Acts xvii. 
22 — 32. 6. In their being rendered effectual for salvation by 
the same means, viz. 1. The blessing of Christ, which include* 
his appointment of them for blessings to men, and his render- 
ing them such by his almighty influence attending them, Exod. 
xx. 24. 2. The working of Christ's Spirit in preparing men 
for these ordinances, assisting them in their attendance on 
them, fixing the impression of their contents, inclining and en- 
abling to a proper improvement of them, 1 Cor. iii. 6, 7. xii. 
13. 3. The exercise of true faith correspondent with the in- 
fluences of Christ and his Spirit in them, — jn discerning that 
which God manifests,— -in crediting that which God declares, — 
in receiving that which God offers, — and in improving God's 
manifestations, declarations, and gifts, to promote that holy 
obedience which he requires, Heb. iv^2. xi. 6. 

The typical ceremonies of the Old Testament dispensation 
being more dark, carnal, confined, and representing Christ as 
to come, continued, as it were, living' and vigorous in their ob- 
ligation till his incarnation ;— languid and dying during his state, 
of humiliation, and especially of his publick ministry ; — and be- 
came dead after his death and resurrection ; — and deadly and 
hurtful after his full declaration of the gospel, and ruin of the 
Jewish temple, Heb. vii. — x. Gal. ii. — v. — It is evident that 
they are now abolished, 1. From many express declarations 
of Scripture, Acts xv. 18, 28. Gal. v. 2, 4, 5, 13. iv. 11. Col. 
ii. 14, 17. Heb. vii. — x. 2. From many Scripture-predictions, 
Isa. lxvi. 3. Jer. iii. 16. xxxi. 32. Dan. ix. 27. Mai. i. 11. Psal 
ex. 4. 3. From the very nature of many of these ceremonies. 
They were not good in themselves ; pointed out Christ not as 
come, but to come ; and excluded the Gentiles from the church, 
Heb. x. 1. Col. ii. 17. Gal. iii. 24. v. 1. Eph. ii. 12, 14, 15. 
4. From the state of the Jewish nation, which for more than, 
1700 years past has rendered the observance of these ceremonies 
at Jerusalem, or in Canaan impossible, Luke xjx. 43, 44. xxL 
20, 24. Rom. xi. 7 — 15, 20. 

Objec. I. " Several of these ordinances were appointed to 
w continue for ever, Gen. xvii. 13. Exod. xii. 24." Answ. 1. 
For ever and everlasting often signify no more than a long time, 
or the whole time of a particular state of things. 2> These ce- 
remonies continue for ever in their antitypes. 



548 OF THE'OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT DISPENSATIONS. 

Objec. II. " Christ's apostles marked a great regard to the 
" Mosaick ceremonies." Answ. Only for a time, and in so far 
as they thought necessary for the edification of the weak Jews 
converted to the Christian form of worship, Acts xv. Rom. xiv.. 

1 Cor. viii. Gal. ii. v. Heb. vii. — x. 

Objec III." Priests, sacrifices, and temples, ike. are foretold 
" to take place in the New Testament church, Ezck. xl. — xlviii. 
" Mai. i. ii." &c. Answ.. These typical terms must be under- 
stood in a spiritual sense, agreeably to the nature of the gospel 
dispensation, 1 Pet. ii. 5. Heb. xiii. 15, 16. Rom. xii. 1. 

The peculiar and transcendant prerogatives of the more full, 
clear, spiritual, extensive, and lasting New Testament dispen- 
sation are, 1. The Messiah exhibited as already incarnate, made 
perfect through suffering, and exalted to glory, John i. 14, 
Heb. ii. 9, 10. v. 9. Psalm xcvii. 1. xcix. 1. ex. 1 — 7. Heb. 
vii. — X. 2. The gospel preached in a new form; revealing and 
offering Christ, and a finished redemption in him, 1 Cor. ii. 
7 — 10. ; — exhibiting him and his blessings in a clear manner, 

2 Cor. iii. 6 — 16- Col. i. 25, 26. Rom. xvi. 25, 26. 2 Tim. i. 
10.;-— in which all appearance of severity, even to beasts, is laid 
aside, — in a manner most delightful and comforting, 2 Cor. iii. 
9. 1 Cor. ii. 9. xv. 3, 4. Isa. Iii. 7. xl. 1, 2. lxi. 1 — 3. lxvi. 
to — 12. ; and in which the gospel dwells plentifully in men, 
Rom. x. 8, 18. Col. iii. 16, 17. 3. The calling the Gentile na- 
tions into the Christian church, while the Jewish church and 
statt are ruined : in order to wean the believing Jews from their 
ceremonies, and confirm the Messiahship and pospel of Christ, 
1 Cor. ii. 4, 5. 2 Cor. x. 4, 7. Isa. lxvi. 7, 8. Rom.x. 18, 19- 
xi. 11, 12. xvi. 26. Acts xiii- 46. Matth. xxiv. 14. xxvi. 13. 
xxviii. 19. Mark xvi. 15, 16. Eph. iii. 8, 9. Col. i.23. Rev. v. 9. 
vii. 9. And in the last ages of the world, both Jews and Gen- 
tiles shall be almost universally united into one gospel church, 
Rom. xi. 12—16,26,30,31, 32. Rev.xi. 15. Psal. Ixxii. xcviii. 
2, 3. 4. A far more plentiful and comfortable enjoyment of 
the Holy Ghost in his presence and influence, Zech. xii. 10. 
Joel ii. 28. Isa. xliv. 3—5. John vii. 38, 39. xiv. 16. 26. xv. 26. 
xvi. 7 — 14. Acts ii. viii. x. 1 Cor. xii. 5. More remarkable 
endowments, --more clear and distinct views of divine mysteries, 
Isa. xi. 9. liv. 13. Jer. xxxi. 34. 1 John ii. 27. ;-— more eminent 
holiness, Isa. xxix. 24. xxxiii. 24. xxxv. 9. lx. 12, 21, 22. lxii. 
12, Zech. x. 5, 12. xii. 8. Isa. liv, 11, 12. lxvi. 12- -14. Zech. 
xiv. 20, 21.; — more abundant comfort, John xiv. 16, 26. Acts 
ix. 31. Eph. U 13. 2Cor.i. 22. v. 5. 2Thess. ii. 16, 17;— much 
greater boldness and intinvacv with God, Gal. iv. 6. Rom. viii. 
15,16- Heb. iv. 14—16. x. 19, 20. ;— miraculous gifts bestowed 
on the. apostles and others, Acts ii. viii. x. xvi. 19. xxi. 8. l Cor. 



OP THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT DISPENSATIONS. 549 

xii. xiv. 6. Evangelical liberty, consisting in more distinct un- 
derstanding the saint's freedom from the dominion of the broken 
covenant of works, and of sin and Satan, Rom. viii. 1. vi. 1.4. 
Col. i. 13. ; — and from all human impositions in the worship of 
God, James iv. 12. 1 Cor. vii. 23. Mat. xv. 9. Col. ii. 18 — 23.; 
— and in complete deliverance from the ceremonial law, and 
from the judicial law of the Jewish nation, in so far as subordi- 
nated to it, Acts xv. 10. Gal. v. 1 — 25. iv. 5, 26. Tit. i. 15. 
Col. ii. 20, 21. 1 Cor. x. 25. 7. As it relates to things past, 
it admits of no change till the end of the world, Mat. xxviii. 20. 
I Cor. x. 25, 28. 



tfj» OF CHURCH FELLOWSHIP. 



BOOK VII. 

OF THE COVENANT SOCIETY, FOR ERECTING OF WHICH, 
AND TO WHIOH, THE COVENANT IS DISPENSED. 



CHAP. I. 



Of the Nature, Formation, and Fellowship of the. 
Christian Church. 

HAVING elsewhere exhibited a representation of the typi- 
cal church of the Old Testament, and its ordinances, our pre- 
sent hints shall immediately respect the New Testament church. 
The Greek word Eccle&ia, which we render church, denotes 
any assembly met about business, whether lawful or unlawful, 
Acts xix. 32 — 39. But, when it respects the objects of the new 
covenant, it denotes, 1. The whole body of the elect considered 
in their relation to Christ, those on earth being called the mili- 
tant, and those in heaven the triumphant church, Eph. i. 22. v. 
25. Mat. xvi. 18. Heb. xii. 23. 2. All those men and women 
in this world who profess their faith in Christ and obedience to 
him, and their children, 1 Tim. iii. 15. Eph. iv. 11, 12. 1 Cor. 
xii. 12, 13, 28. 3. Some particular assemblies of the worship- 
pers of God in Christ united together in special fellowship for 
their own mutual edification, and subjected to their respective 
governours, Acts viii. 1. xv. 41. xx. 17. Rev. i. 11, 20. ii. 1, 7, 
8, 11, 12, 17, 18, 29. iii. 1, 6, 7, 13, 14, 22. 2 Cor. i. 1. Gal. 
i. 13, 22. 1 Thess. i. 1. 4. A particular congregation of per- 
sons professing faith in Christ, love to him, and regard to his 
ordinances as distinguished from their spiritual governours, Acts 
xiv. 23. 5. A particular assembly of the professed followers of 
Christ that ordinarily meet in one place for the dispensation of 
gospel ordinances, their rulers being among them, Acts ix. 31. 
.xv. 41. 2 Cor. viii. 1. Gal. i. 2, 22. Tit. i. 5. 1 Cor. xiv. 34. 
Acts xx. 7. Col. iv. 15. Rom. xvi. 5. Philem. 2. 6. A meeting 
of church rulers constituted in Christ's name, for ordering of the 
affairs under their charge, which is often called a church repre* 
tentative, Mat. xviii. 17. Acts xv. 3. xviii. 22. xxi. 20. 



OF CHURCH FELLOWSHIP. 551 

The church being founded upon revelation alone, ought to be 
wholly regulated by the measuring' reed, and the line of God's 
word, Eph.ii.20. Ezek. xliii. 11, 12. Heb.viii.5. Rev. xi. 1. 
xxi. Ezek. xl. — xlviii. The visible church on earth is a so- 
ciety of believing and holy persons, whom God, by the gospel, has 
called from among mankind, to fellowship with his Son Jesus 
Christ, 1 Cor. xii. 12. Acts ii. 41, 47. Heb. iii. 1, 6. 1 Cor. i. 
9. xii. 6—28. Eph. ii. 19 — 22. Col. i. 13. 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9 — 
This society is, 1. Holy, Heb. iii. 1. John iii. 3, 5. Eph. ii. 
21. Ezek. xliii. 12. lPet.ii. 9. 2. Spiritual, formed by the 
Holy Ghost, — through, and for, ordinances and services of a 
spiritual nature, — .md of men made spiritual, — blessed with 
spiritual blessings, — living on spiritual provision, and built up 
a spiritual house for God, Eph. ii. 22. 2 Cor. x. 3 — 5. John vi. 
63. 1 Cor.ii. 15. x. 3. Eph.i. 3. John vi. 27— 57- Rev. ii. 17. 
1 Pet. ii. 5. 3. Independent of all human wisdom and au- 
thority, Isa. xxxiii. 22. Matth. xxiii. 8 — 10. Psalm ii. 6. Heb. 
iii. l. 4. Orderly, 1 Cor. xii. xiv. 5. Visible, Matth. vii. 
16, 20. xviii. 15—17. 

Real Saintship is not the distinguishing criterion of the 
members of this visible church on earth. None, indeed, with- 
out it, can honestly offer themselves to church-fellowship. But, 
for the mere want of it, they cannot be refused admission. 
1. God alone can judge men's heart. Deceivers can counter- 
feit saintship, and often believers doubt of, or deny their real 
grace, 1 Sam. xvi. 7. Rev. ii. 23. 2. God himself admitted 
many whose hearts were unsanctified, as members of the Jewish 
church, Deut. xxix. 3, 4, 13. John vi. 70. 3. John Baptist 
and the Apostles, in order to baptism, required no more than 
outward appearances of faith and repentance, Matth. iii. 5, 7. 
Acts ii. 38. v. 1 — 10. viii. 13 — 23. 4. Many that were admit- 
ted members in the churches of Judea, Corinth, Philippi, Lao- 
dicea, Sardis, &c. were unre generated, Acts. v. 1 — 10. viii. 
13—23, 1 Cor. v. xi. xv. Phil. iii. 18, 19. Rev. iii. 5, 15—17. 
3. Christ compares the gospel church to a floor, on which 
corn and chaff are mingled together; — to a net, in which good 
and bad fishes are inclosed ; — to a field, in which tares grow 
up with the wheat, Matth. iii. 12. xiii. 24, 47- 

But in order to their being received into church-fellowship, 
it is necessary that men profess their faith in Christ and obedi- 
ence to him, and be apparently holy* 1. They must manifest no 
prevailing inclination to any kind of wickedness, 1 Cor. vi. 
9 — 11. v. 11. 2 Tim. iii. 2 — 5. 2. They must have escaped 
the corruption that is in the world through lust, and manifest a 
readiness to receive Christian reproof from neighbours ox 
church rulers, Matth. xviii. 15 — 17. Lev. xi*. 17. Prov.xxix* 



552 OF CHURCH FELLOWSHIP. 

1. 3. Having received the knowledge of the truths of God re» 
vealed in his word, they must profess to esteem and love them, 
Eph. i. 1. Acts viii. 12. James ii. 14—26. 4. In consistency 
with the habitual tenour of their pracrice, they must make an 
open and judicious profession of the subjection of their con= 
science to the authority of Christ in the gospel, and of their 
readiness to yield obedience to all his institutions, Psalm xv. 
xxiv. 3 — 5. Isa. xxxiii. 15, 16. Heb. iii. 1. Tit. ii. 11 — 13, 
Rom. x. 9, 10. 2 Tim. ii. 19. 

The end of such persons uniting in church-fellowship ought 
to be, 1. The maintaining and exhibiting a system of sound 
principles, 2 Tim. i. 13. iii. 14. 1 Tim. vi. 3, 4. Rom. vi. 17, 
1 Cor. viii 5, 6. Eph. iv. 21. Col. ii. 2. Rev. ii. 13 — 15, 20. 
iii. 2, 3, 10, 15, 16. Gal. i. 6. Prov. xxiii. 23. Heb. ii. 1. 

2. The maintaining the ordinances of gospel-worship in their 
purity and simplicity, Deut. xii. 31, 32. Rom. xv. 6. 3. The 
impartial exercise of church-government and discipline, Heb 
xii. 15. x. 24, 25. Gal. vi. 1. 2 Tim. ii. 24— 26. iv. 2. Tit. iii.- 
10. 1 Cor. v. 1 Tim. v. 20—22. James iii. 17. ii. 1—10- Rev 
ii. 4, The maintaining and promoting holiness in all manner 
of conversation, Phil. i. 27- ii. 15, 16. 2 Peuiii. 11. Mic. vi. 
8. 2 Cor. vii. 1, 10, 11. Tit. ii. 10—14. iii. 8, 14. Phil. iv. 8. 

The embracement or profession of nothing but what is really 
divine truth, and tends to promote peace and holiness, and or- 
der, ought ever to be made a term of admission to church-fel- 
lowship, 2 Cor, xiii. 8. 1 Cor. xiii. 6. xiv. 32, 40. 1 John ii. 
23. 2 John 9. Rom. xiv. 19. Heb. xii. 12 — 14. Psalm xciii. 5. 

Ezek. xliii. 10, 12. The forming church-connections upon 

this ground consists in mutual, judicious, and candid covenanting, 
express or implicit, with or without an oath, to make a joint 
profession of the faith of the gospel, 1 Tim. vi. 3, 4. Jude 3, 
20. Phil. i. 27. Col. ii. 2.; and to walk together, each in his 
station, in the order of the gospel, as becomes saints, Rom. xv. 
5—7. Eph. ii. 12—22. iv. 1. 2 Cor. viii. 5. Phil. i. 27. Col i. 
10, 11. This plainly appears, 1. From the inspired represen- 
tations of the Church, as a body, Rom. xii. 4, 5. ; an house, 
Eph. ii. 19 — 22.; a city, Heb. xii. 22. ; a kingdom, Col. i. 13.; 
a nation, 1 Pet. ii. 9. 2. An entering into church fellowship 
is called a joining to the Lord, and being added to the church, 
1 Cor. vi. 17. Acts ii. 47. v. 3, 14.; and continuance in it is 
called a standing fast in one spirit, and striving together, Phil, 
i. 27- 3. This connection is represented as a marriage, Isa. 
lvi. 4, lxii. 5. 4. None are subjects of church government, un- 
less they be within her communion, 1 Cor. v. 12. 2 Cor. vi. 
14 — 16. Mat. xi. 29. 5. Such covenanting is requisite to found 
that intimate fellowship which subsists in the church, Eph. iv. 
1 — 6. 6. The general use of Creeds and Confessions offuith f ia 



OF CHURCH FELLOWSHIP. 5S5 

all the Christian churches for 1700 years past, is a strong, 
though subordinate argument in its favour. 

The union and communion of the Christian church is of 
great importance. — True believers being, by the inviolable bonds 
of the Spirit and faith, connected with Christ as their head, and 
with their fellow-saints as one with him, there can be no schism 
in, or separation frdln his invisible church, or mystical body, 
1 Cor. xii. 25 — 27. Eph. v. 30. 1 John iii. 14.— —The mem- 
bers of the catholick visible church on earth, which comprehends 
all those in the World who profess the true religion, and their 
Children, are united in their acknowledgment of Christ as their 
One Head, — profession of the same fundamental truths, — and 
practice of the same principal holy duties, 1 Cor. i. 2. Eph. iv 

3 — 6. Luke ix. 49, 50. Members of particular churches are 

united by a joint profession of adherence to the same faith and 
order of the gospel, in doctrine, worship, discipline, and go- 
vernment, Acts ii. 41. Eph. iv. 6, Acts iv. 32..Rom. xv. 5 — 7. 

Christian fellowship consists in church-members' conjunction 
in faith and practice, and joint walking in all the ordinances of 
God's worship and service, for their mutual comfort and welfare 
in every thing pertaining to vital, powerful, and sincere religion. 

■ In order to maintain this Christian fellowship, I. Personal 

holiness and devotion, attended with purity and uprightness of 
conversation, must be carefully studied, Tit. ii. 10-— 14. iii. 8j 
14. 2 Cor. i. 12. Acts xxiv. L6V 1 Tim. iv.-8. vi. 11, 12. 2 Tim. 
ii. 22. Phil. iv. 8. II. As families regularly managed are are- 
presentation of churches,~*-religion, with respect to instruction, 
worship, discipline, order, and edifying example, ought to be 
carefully promoted in them. 1. The light of nature represents 
family religion as a just debt due to God, — and as the chief end 
of the erection of families, arid of great advantage to all in 
them : And hence the heathens had their household gods. 
2. God has expressly commanded such diligence in family reli- 
gion, Col. iv. 2. 1 Pet. iii. 7. Eph* vi. 18. 3. It is recom- 
mended by the approved example of many saints, Gen. xviii. 
18, 19. Job. i. 5. Josh. xxiv. 15. 2 Sam. vi. 20. Rom. xvi. 5. 
1 Cor. xvi. 19. Col. iv. 15. Acts x. 2. 4. Many are the advan- 
tages which attend it, and the evils which follow the neglect of 
it, Psalm xxx. ci. Jer. x. 25. — It is therefore mournful, that 
by the irregular constitution of families through marriages not 
in the Lord, Deut. vii. 3. 2 Cor. Vi. 14. 1 Cor. vii. 39. ; by the 
neglect or frequent omission of family religion at the first erec- 
tion of families, — by sinful bashfulness in the heads of them.— 
by their want of zeal for God, — or by their immoderate inclina- 
tion to company, or hurry of worldly business, — family worship, 
and its proper attendants, are so much neglected. III. Christians 
ought to join in private societies for praver and spiritual confer- 

4 1) 



554 OF CHURCH FELLOWSHIP. 

ence. l.The relations of saints to one another require this, 
Eph. ii. 19. Phil. ii. 25. Rev. vi. 11. Gal. vi. 16. Rom. viii. 

17. Matth. xxiii. 8, 10. 1 Cor. xii. 12. Rom. xii. 5. 2. God 
is much pleased with such social meetings, Mai. iii. 16, 17. 
S. The Scripture much recommends them, Eccl. iv. 9 — 12. 
Gal. vi. 2. Matth. xviii. 19, 20. Col. iii. 16. Heb. iii. 13. x, 

24, 25. 4. In Scripture there are approved examples of such 
meetings, Psalm lv, 13, 14. Song i. 7, 8. Dan. ii. 17, 18. Esth. 
iv. 16. John xx. 19,26. Actsxvi. 13. 5. Such social meetings 
are of great use if rightly managed, — for promoting the know- 
ledge of divine truths, Col. iii. 16. Psalm cxi. 2. ; — and Chris- 
tian sympathy, Gal. vi. 2. Rom. xii. 15. ; — for mutual en- 
couragement and confirmation of one another in the way of 
holiness, Heb. x. 24, 25. Esth. iv, 15, 16. Heb. iii. 13.; — for 
mutual communication of one another's gifts and experiences, 
1 Pet. iv. 10, 11. Psalm lxvi. 16.; — for promoting mutual watch- 
fulness over, and admonishing one another, 1 Thess. v. 14.. 
Heb. iii. 13.; — for invigorating their mutual prayers and praises, 
Matth. xviii. 19. 20. ;— for recommending religion to others. 
Matt. v. 16. Phil. ii. 15, 16. ; — for anticipating the delightful 
fellowship of the saints in heaven, Heb. xii. 22,;— and for sham- 
ing the wicked from their social meetings for carnal conversa- 
tion, drunkenness, idle diversion, &c. 

The duties of church fellowship are, 1. Earnest study to keep 
the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, Eph. iv. 3. Phil, 
ii. 2, 3. iii. 15, 16. 2. Bearing one another's burdens, Gal. 
vi. 1, 2. 3. Earnest and constant endeavouring to prevent 
all occasion of stumbling. 1 Cor. x. 32, 33. xi. 1. Rom. xiv. 
13. 1 Pet. iii. 15, 16. John iii. 21. Phil. ii. 15, 16. James ii. 

18. v. 16. Matth. xviii. 15 — 17. Lev.xix. 17. 4. Steadfast 
continuance in the faith and worship of the gospel with one 
another. Acts ii. 42. Phil. i. 27. iv. 1. 1 Cor. xi. 2. Heb. x. 

25. Song i. 8. Prov. viii. 34. ix. 5. 5. Strict and conscien- 
tious fulfilment of relative duties, which mightily tends to 
promote order in the church, 1 Cor. vii. 24, 39. 1 Pet. iii. 7. 
1 Tim. v. 1 — 3. Eph. v. 22, 25. vi. 1 — 9. 2 Sam. xxiii. 3. 
Rom. xiii. 1 — 7. Heb. xiii. 7, 16, 17. 1 Tim. v. 17. Acts vi. 
1 — 3. Rom. xii. 6 — 16. Phil. ii. 3, 4. These duties are in- 
culcated upon us, 1. By the light of nature rightly under- 
stood. 2. By the word of God, Eph. iv. 1 — 6. Psalm exxii. 
exxxiii. Song i. 7 — 9. Phil. i. 27. Heb. x. 25. 3. Instead of 
being needless, selfish, or hurtful, as some pretend, such fel- 
lowship prevents much mischief, and produces much good. 
1. It encourages particular Christians boldly to profess and 
practise their religion. 2. Hereby multitudes are instructed 
at once," and devotion is excited and prayers rendered more 
prevalent. 3. Every one being a pattern, guide, monitor, and 



OF CHURCH FELLOWSHIP. SS5 

reprover to another, apostacy, and sinful stumbling are much 
prevented. 4. Christians thus mutually connected and ac- 
quainted, can better assist one another in duty. 5. It fits us 
for the heavenly fellowship of angels and saints. 6. Hereby 
we much glorify Christ, and God in him, as our God, Johu 
xvii. 11, 21, 23. 

It is chiefly with respect to the union and communion of 
Christians in particular churches, that schism in the church, 
or separation from it, takes place. Schism is properly an 
uncharitableness and alienation of affection among church 
members, who, in the main, continue in church fellowship 
with one another, 1 Cor. i. 10, 12. xi. 18. xii. 15. Or, it 
consists in church members carrying on their religious dis- 
putes with sinful eagerness and want of Christian affection 
to one another, 2 Cor. xii. 20. It proceeds from pride, self- 
love, jealousy, hatred, evil speaking, &c James iv. 1. It 
ought to be prevented by self-denial, taking up our cross and 
exact following Christ, Matth. xvi. 24. Phil. ii. 1 — 5. 2 Cor* 
xiii. 11. Rom. xiv. 19. xv. 5, 6, 7- xvi. 17, 18. Acts iv. 32. 
Eph. iv. 31, 32. v. 1,2. Matth. xviii. 21. Mark xi. 25, 26. 
Rom. xiv. 13. xv. 12. 1 Cor. xiii. 4 — 7. Gal. vi. 1, 2. Rom. 
vi. 3—5. 2 Tim. ii. 16, 17, 22, 23, 24. Tit. iii. 9. 1 John, 
iv. 1. 

There can be no separation from the Catholick church, 
without abandoning the fundamental principles and practices of 
true religion, and so becoming no Christian at all. But sepa- 
ration from a particular church is a schism in the Catholick 
church, and is sinful, when members separate from the commu- 
nion of a church, the prevailing part of which appear candidly 
to endeavour conformity to that system of faith and practice 
which Christ has, by his word, fixed as a standard of church 
fellowship, Jud<j 19. 2. When the prevailing part of a church 
make any addition to, or alteration of the scriptural system. 
of faith, worship, discipline, or government, an essential con- 
dition of fellowship with them : In this case, the prevailing 
party are the real separatists, and they who are obliged to 
withdraw from their communion rather than sin, are the true 
adherents to the church, cleaving to her constitutional laws, 
and only forbearing fellowship with offending brethren in pub- 
lick and sealing ordinances, in so far as is consistent with an 
adherence unto the laws of Christ. 

As an individual person, obstinate in notorious wickedness, 
ought to be cast out from church fellowship: So it is only 
when the prevailing part of a church become obstinate in no- 
torious apostacy from attained reformation in doctrine, wor- 
ship, discipline, or government, that a separation from a par- 
ticular church can be lawful- The churches of Corinth, 



556 OF CHURCH POWER. 

Galatia, Ephesus, Pergamus, Thyatira, Sardis, Laodicea, &c. 
which were tainted with several corruptions, not having be- 
come obstinate therein, the Lord enjoins no separation from 
them, 1 Cor. i. iii. v. viii. x. xi. xiv. xv. Gal. i. 6. iii. 1. iv. 
11. v. 7. Rev. ii. iii.- -This obstinacy is manifested in a conti- 
nued disregard of the faith, obedience, and fellowship of the 
gospel, which had been formerly embraced ; and in an incorri- 
gible rtfusinc reproof dutifully offered, which is often attend- 
ed with severity of edicts, or censures against the modest but 
faithful remonstrants.- -Or, separation from a particular church 
becomes necessary when we cannot continue in her publick fel- 
lowship without complying with something sinful as it is cir- 
cumstantiated, or omitting some necessary duty.---In such a 
case, the sin of separation is onlv chargeable upon them that 
have occasioned the withdrawment, except in so far as the 
withdrawers mismanage the manner of their conduct. 

Schism, properly so called, and separation on insufficient 
grounds, or forcing others from church fellowship, by making 
any term of it in any respect sinful, is an horrible scandal and 
crime. 1. Jesus Christ died, intercedes, and bestows his Spi- 
rit and grace, in order to promote the unity and peace of his 
church, Eph. i. JO. ii. 15, 16. Col. i. 20. John xiv. 16,17,27. 
xvii. 21, 23. jer. xxxii. 39, 40. Ezek. xi. 19. xxxvii. 15 — 27. 
2. God much commands and urges the promoting peace and 
unity in his church, Rom. xii. 9, 10, 16, 18. xv. 1 — 6. xiv. 
xvi. 17, 18. 1 Cor. i. 10. 2 Cor. xiii. 11. Eph. iv. 2,3—6, 23, 
31, 32. v. 1, 2, 30. Phil. i. 27. ii. 1—5. iv. 2 Col. ii. 2. iii. 
12—15. lThess. v. 13. 14. Psalm cxxii. cxxxiii. Zech. viii. 
19. 3. Schism and sinful separation spring from base lusts, 
and are very dishonouring to God and hurtful to men, Prov. 
xiii. 10. xv. 1. x. 12. James iv. 1. iii. 15, 16. 1 Cor. iii. 1—4. 
Mark iii. 24. Rom. xv.. 1, 2. xiv. 19. jude 19- Isa. Ixv. 5. 
Ixvi. S. 



CHAP. II. 



Of Church Power, and the Subjects in which it re- 
sides, Head and Officers. 

THAT Jesus Christ is the alone Head of the church, is ma- 
nifest, 1. From express declarations of Scripture, John xviii. 
36. Col. i. 18. ii. 19. Eph. i. 22. iv. Is, 1-6.. Isa. ix. 6, 7. Luke 
i. 32, 33. Mic. v. 2—5. Matth. xxviii. 18—20. John iii 35, 
v. 22. Phil. ii. 9—11. 1 Cor.xv. 25,26. Rev. iii. 7. 2. From 
the princely, titles, respecting the church, which are ascribed 



OJP CHURCH POWER. S$? 

to him in Scripture : as Lord. Acts ii. 36. x. 36. 1 Cor. viii. 
6. ; Lawgiver, Isa. xxxiii. 22. James iv. 12. ; King, Psalm ii. 6. 
xxiv. 7, 9. ixxii. 1. Song i. 4,12. iii. 9, 11. vii. 5.; Prince, 
Ezek. xxxiv. 24. xlvi. 10.: Cover nour ; Ruler, Jer. xxx. 21. 
Mic. v. 2. Is.i. ix. 6. ; Judge, Mic. v. 1. ha. xxxiii. 12. ii. 4. 
hu. 3, 4. ; Shepherd, Isa. xl. 11. Ezek. xxxiv. 23. xxxvii. 24. 
Heb. xiii. 20. 1 Pot. v. 4. i<. 25. ; Bishop of smils, 1 Pet. ii. 
25. ; Master, Mat. xxili. 8, 10. John xx. 16.; Head, Col. i. 18. 
Hos. i. 11. ; Apostle, and High Priest of our profession, — a Son 
over his own house, Heb. iii. 1 — 6. 3. To him alone are attri- 
buted acts of supreme power in the church, as enacting of 
.laws and ordinances, even to her principal officers, Gal. vi. 2. 

1 Cor. ix. 21. Acts;. 2. Mark xvi. 15, 16. Matth. x. 7. xxviii. 

19, 20. John i. 33. 1 Cor. iii. 5. Matth. xvi. 19. xviii. 18. v. 
vi. vii. He qualifies ali her officers, and prescribes to them the 
manner of their call, as well as the matter and manner of their 
work, Eph. iv. 7, 8, 11. 1 Cor. xii. 28. John xx. 21 — 23. 

2 Cor. x. 8. And in his name all her ordinances arc dispensed, 
Mat. xviii. 20. xxviii. 19. Acts xix. 5. John xiv. 13, 14. CoL 
iii. 17. 1 Cor. v. 4- xi. 23. 

It necessarily follows, that the Christian church must, in 
Christ's word, have a particular form of government appointed. 
1. Christ as her Head is not an author of confusion, but of 
order and peace, 1 Cor. xiv. 33. 2. The Scripture, either by- 
particular or general rules, instructs in every good word and 
work, and renders the man of God perfect, 2 Tim. iii. 15—17. 
3. Christ, as her King, not only governs his church by the 
internal influence of his Spirit, but externally, by appointment 
of ambassadors, assemblies, laws, and ordinances, Eph. iv. 11. 
Matth. xviii. 20. xxviii. 18 — 20. 1 Cor. xi. 23—29. xii. 28. 
John xx. 21 — 23. 1 Cor. v. 4, 5. 4. The proper end of church 
power is not mere decency, but the spiritual edification of 
men, — the confirmation of them that stand ', the recovery of 
them that are fallen ; and the salvation of many, 1 Tim. v. 

20. i. 20. 1 Cor. v. 5. Jude 22, 23. 5. The laws of Moses 
manifest that Christ appointed a particular form of govern- 
ment in the Jewish church. But in no respect could they 
need an express form more than the Christian church, or the 
Mediator's care of them be greater. Human inventions are 
now no more wise and holy ; or Christ more in love with them 
than in the days of old, Heb. iii. 1 — 6. Matth. xv. 1—9. It 
is absurd to suppose, that after Christ gave himself for his 
church, he abandoned the forming and manner of governing 
it to the imaginations of men, which are only evil continually, 
Gen. vi. 5. viii. 21. 6. The account of the ordinances, offi- 
cers, and procedure of the Christian church, which we have 
.in Scripture, exhibits every thing necessary to a particular 



458 OF CHURCH POWER. 

form of government. 7. By attempting to support from Scrip* 
ture their own particular forms of church government, almost 
all professed Christians have manifested their belief that some 
particular form of it is appointed by Christ. 

The whole power communicated by Jesus Christ, for the go- 
vernment of his church, is of a spiritual nature, correspond- 
ing to the nature of his kingdom, John xviii. 36. l.The source 
and author of it is Christ, the quickening Spirit, Mat. xxviii. 
18 — 20. xvi. 19. xviii. 15— 20. John xx. 21 — 23. 1 Cor. xv. 45, 
2. The rule of it is not the carnal statutes of men, but the spi- 
ritual oracles of the Holy Ghost, 1 Tim. iii. 14, 15. 2 Tim. iii. 
15 — 17. Isa. viii. 20. 3. The matter of it is spiritual : The 
keys of order and government are not carnal, but keys of the 
kingdom of heaven, Mat. xvi. 19. The doctrine preached re- 
lates not to human science, but is spiritual and divine, 2 Pet. i. 
19, 20, 21. 2 Tim. iii. 15—17. Tit. ii. 10. Heb. v. 12. vi. 5. 
Eph. i. 13. iv. 21. vi. 17. 2 Cor x. 4, 5. 1 Cor. ii. 2. i. 23, 24-. 
Rom. i. 16, 17- The sacraments confirm only spiritual privi- 
leges, Rom. iv. 11. vi. 4, 5. 1 Cor. x. 16, 17. xi. 23—29. The 
discipline is spiritual, reaching neither to body nor purse, but 
to soul and conscience, Mat. xvi. 19. xviii. 15---20. 1 Cor. v. 

4, 5, 13. 2 Cor, ii. 1—7. John xx. 21—23. 4. The objects of 
this power are spiritual, — men considered not as of this world, 
but as spiritual members of Christ's mystical body ; and their 
conduct not as civil, but as pleasing or displeasing to God in 
Christ, Gal. vi. 1. 1 Cor. ii. 15. v. 11—13. 2 Cor. xiii. 8. 

5. The tendency of it is spiritual, — to gain sinful men to Jesus 
Christ, destroy their sin, and save their souls, Eph. iv. 11 — 13. 
1 Cor. v. 5. 

All church-power is bestowed by Christ for the advantage of 
all the members of his church, Eph. iv. 11 — 13. 2 Cor. xiii. 8, 
10. x. 8. Acts xxvi. 17, 18. 1 Pet. iii. 21. Rom. iv. 11.1 Cor. 
x. 16, 17. Mat. xviii. 15—17. 1 Tim. v. 20. i. 20. Tit. i. 13. 
1 Cor. v. 5, 7, 13. 2 Cor. ii. 7. ; and every one is warranted to 
improve it to his spiritual advantage, and to try whether that 
which is dispensed to him be according to the word of God, 
1 John iv. 1. Acts xvii. 11. 1 Thess. v. 21. But no power of 
office for dispensing publick ordinances in doctrine, worship, go- 
vernment, or discipline, is lodged by Christ in the community of 
the faithful. 1. Not the Christian people, but particular rulers 
are, in Scripture, warranted to preach the gospel, administer sa- 
craments, ordain officers, censure or absolve delinquents, Rom. 
x. 15. Heb. v. 4, 5. 1 Cor. iv. 1. Mark xvi. 15, 16. 1 Tim. iv. 
14, 15. Acts xiv. 23. vi. 3, 6. Tit. i. 1 Tim. iii. v. 20. i. 20. 
Mat. xviii. 18. xvi. 19. 1 Cor. v. 4. 2 Cor. ii. 6. Tit. iii. 10. 
2. The gifts necessary for the execution of ecclesiastical offices 
are no where promised) or represented as given to the cpmciur. 



ttF CHURCH POWER. Sf9 

"nity of believers, but only to church officers, Mat. xxviii. 19, 
20. xvi. 19. John xx. 21 — 23. 1 Cor. xii. 7, 8. 1 Tim. iii. 2. 
2 Tim. ii. 2. Eph. iv. 11, 12. 3. No where are the Christian 
people in general, but particular officers, marked by characters 
which denotes authority ;— Nay, they are represented asthefock; 
the family ; the body ; and subject; and are commanded to ho- 
nour, obey, and submit to their officers, who are represented as 
elders , overseers, rulers, guides, governments, Acts xx. 17, 28. 
1 Thess. v. 12* 1 Tim. v. 17- Heb. xiii. 7, 17- 1 Cor. xii. 
28. 4. Great absurdity and confusion would ensue, if even all 
adult believers should be admitted to govern the church. All 
would be rulers : who then would remain to be ruled ? All 
Would be stewards of the mysteries of God to themselves and 
others : who then could need the dispensation of them ?— 
Further, unless manhood, which is nothing spiritual, draw all 
church power to male believers, women, who are prohibited to 
speak in the church, must be allowed as much authority in go- 
vernment as men, 1 Cor. xiv. 3, 4. 1 Tim. ii. 12. More- 
over, What neglect of business, what disorder must ensue, if 
all adult believers be equal triers and ordainers of pastors, or cen- 
surers of subtle hereticks ? If elders or deacons offend, their 
spiritual pupils and children must be their judges and correctors. 
If a whole congregation fall into errour and scandal, who can 
reclaim them ? 

Civil magistrates ought to encourage and protect the church: 
and, in so doing, may, in their station, act in a manner like to 
parents and masters in theirs. By a proper exercise of their 
civil power, and for the good of the commomvealth, they ought to 
prevent and remove persecution, profaneness, idolatry, supersti- 
tion, heresy, and every other thing which tends to hinder the 
pure worship of God, Isa. xlix. 23. lx. 3, 10, 16. Rom. xiH. 3. 
4. 1 Tim. ii. 2. 2 Chron. xv. 8, 16. xvii. 3 — 10. xxxi. 1. xxxiH. 
15. 2 Kings xviii. 4. xxiii. — They ought to preserve for the 
church her fulness of spiritual power allowed her by Christ ; 
and by providing places of instruction, and maintainance for 
pastors and other instructors, and by encouraging laws, and 
their own example, they ought to promote the administration 
of, and attendance upon the ordinances of the gospel, 2 Chron. 
xv. 9 — 16. xx. 7—9. xvii. xxix. xxx. xxxi. xxxiv. xxxv. Deut. 
xvii. 18---20. 1 Chron. xxii.— xxv. Neh. xiii. 10—14.— — As 
heads of families ought to promote sound principles and holy 
practices in their families,-— magistrates ought to promote and 
establish the reformation of doctrine, worship, discipline, and 
government of the church in their dominions, as a mean of pro- 
moting their happiness. And for this end, may call synods of 
church officers for settling and governing her affairs according 
to the ward of God y Exod. xxxii. Josh, xxiii. xxiv. 2 Kings 



j0 OF CHURCH POWER. 

xviii. 4— 7. xii. xxii. xxiii. 2 Chron. xv. xvii. xxxiv. xxxv, 
1 Sam. vii. 6. 2 Chron. xx. 3. Jonah iii. 7- Ezra viii. 21.— By 
their civil authority, they ought to enforce her laws or consti- 
tutions which are warranted by the word of God j as observing 
them tends to promote the welfare of the nation, and ought to 
excite her rulers and members to an external performance of 
their duty by every method agreeable to the gospel j^ and ought 
to punish open violations of God's law, as crimes \:hich disho- 
nour him, whose deputies they are, and bring a curse on the 
commonwealth, 2 Chron. xv. xxx. xxxi. xxxiv. xxxv. Neh. xiii, 
Dan. iii. 28, 29. vi. 26, 27. Deut. xxi. 18---21. Gen. ix. 6. 
Num. xxxv. 30- -32. xv. 30 — 36. Job. xxxi 9, 11. Lev. xx. 
11--25. Exod. xxii. 1 — 15. Deut. xix. 16. xiii. 1—6. xvii. 1-8. 
Lev. xvii. 2. 8. 2 Chron. xv. 13,16. Job xxxi. 26, 27,28. Lev 
xxiv. 15, 16. Rom. xiii. 3, 4. 1 Pet. ii. 13, 14. Heb. x. 28. 

Objec. I. u In their care about religion they must not act 
"as magistrates, but as Christians." Answ. Why separate their 
Christianity from their power ? Are not all parents and mas- 
ters, that are Christians, obliged by the law of God to act as 
Christians in these stations ? Why may not magistrates also 
act as Christians in the execution of their office ? In neither 
of these cases does Christianity add to men's power, but quali- 
fies them for the better exercise of the power which they have, 
on another foundation. 

Gbjec. II. M The above proofs are generally taken from 
" Jewish magistrates, who were ecclesiastical rulers, and their 
" nation an ecclesiastical nation." Answ. Notwithstanding the 
Jewish magistrates were deputies under God, who was the Su- 
preme King of their nation ; yet it never can be proved that 
they were church rulers, till it be demonstrated that proselytes 
of the covenant and of the gate had equal privileges with Jews 
in both church and state ; that every thing which excluded 
from church fellowship, excluded also from civil privileges ; 
that fining, burning, stoning, &c. of malefactors were ordi- 
nances of Christ, for worship of God, as well as excommunica- 
tions; and that there is no difference between the judicial and 
ceremonial laws. 

Objec. III. " If magistrates have such power about religion, 
" they ought, by fines, imprisonment, death, or the like, to force 
" their subjects to whatever themselves think to be the true re- 
"ligion; and so bereave them of their natural liberties, in 
"which they are bound to protect them." Answ. 1. Parents 
and masters can do much to promote true religion in their fami- 
lies, without 'ither starving or hurtfully beating any under 
their charge. 2. Not the conscience of either magistrates or 
subjects, but the law of God, is the standard of duty„to them. 
3. If magistrates act according, to the law of God, they can 



OF CHUBCH POWER. 561 

never attempt to propagate the true religion by methods which 
God never enjoined for that end, or which tend to disparage re- 
ligion. 4. As all liberty, civil as well as sacred, proceeds from 
God himself, it can never be a protection of men in idolatry, 
blasphemy, notorious heresy, or profanation of the Sabbath, 
which render them open and insolent, dishonourers of, and re- 
bels against God, and plagues to the nation, — any more than 
protect them in treason, murder, or theft. 

But Christ has communic^d no spiritual power to civil ma- 
gistrates. 1. No where doth he appear to bestow any such 
power on magistrates, but on his apostles and their successors, 
as officers in the church, Matt. xvi. 19. xviii. 18. xxviii. 18 — 20. 
John xx. 21 — 23. Nor, in his establishment of his gospel- 
church, could he bestow any such power on magistrates, as both 
Jewish and Heathen were open enemies to him, and the civil 
power of the former just expiring. 2. For about 300 years 
the whole power of the Christian church was exercised, while 
the magistrates of those countries continued heathens and bloody 
persecutors. The word was preached ; the sacraments dis- 
pensed ; the unruly admonished ; the scandalous rebuked ; the 
obstinate excommunicated ; the penitent absolved ; elders and 
deacons ordained ; synods assembled ; and ecclesiastical decrees 
enacted, Acts iv. 2. 1 Tim. iii. 16. Acts xx 7. 1 Cor. xi. 17 — 29. 
Acts ii. 41, 42. viii. 12. xiii. 1 — 3. xiv. 23. 1 Tim- iv. 14. Tit. 
i. 5. Acts vi. 1—6. 1 Tim. v. 20. i. 20. 1 Cor. v. 4, 5. 2 Cor. ii. 
6 — 8. Acts xv. xvi. 4. 3. No where do magistrates appear 
in the list of church-officers recorded in Scripture. Nay, if 
children, women, or heathens, how could they be capable of rul- 
ing the Christian church ? Rom. xii. 6 — 8. 1 Cor. xii. 28. Eph. 
iv. 11, 12. 1 Cor. xiv. 34. Eph. ii. 12. 4. Church- government 
is altogether independent on civil government, Church -officers 
are not set up by the state, but by the Lord, Acts xx. 28. 

1 Cor. iv. 1, 2. xii. 28. 1 Thess. v. 12. Eph. iv. 11. They preach 
the gospel, dispense sacraments, inflict, or absolve from spiritual 
censures, which no magistrates have power to do, Rom. x. 15. 

2 Chron. xxvi. 18, 19. They may execute their office, not 
only without the consent, but contrary to the command of 
civil magistrates, Acts iv. 19. v. 29. 1 Cor. v. 4, 5. Matt, xviii. 
17, 18. Tit. iii. 10, Rev. ii. iii- None can lawfully appeal 
from an ecclesiastical decision of a spiritual cause to the 
civil magistrate, Matt. ii. 7. Deut. xvii. 8 — 10. 1 Cor xiv. 32. 
Acts xiv. xvi. 4. Even kings, if disorderly church-members, 
are to be censured by church -rulers, 2 Thess. iii. 6. Matt, xviii. 
15 — 18- 5. Civil and ecclesiastical power exceedingly differ in 
many respects ; 1. In their proper origin. In its general na- 
ture civil government flows from God as Creator, Preserver, 
and King of nations ; and, excepting the Jewish theocracy, is, 

4 E 



562 OF CHURCH POWER. 

in its particular form, an ordinance of men, Rom. xiii. 1 — 4. 
1 Pet. ii. 14. Jer. xxvii. 12. Luke xii. 13. 14. All church 
power is derived from Christ as mediatorial head of the church, 
Matt. xvi. 19. xxviii. 18 — 20. Eph. iv. 11, 12. 1 Cor. xii. 28. 
2. In the formal nature of their object. The church is a spiritual 
society, and body and spouse of Christ. The state, which is 
the object of the magistrate's power, is a carnal and earthly so- 
ciety, Eph. i. 22. v. 25. iv. 8 — H-A Cor. xii. 28. Acts vi. 3, 4. 
xiii. 1 — 4. xiv. 23. 1 Tim. iv. 14™ 1 Cor. iv. 12. y. 20. John 
xviii. 36. Jer. xxix. 7. xxvii. 7, 17. 3. In the matter in which 
they are exercised. Civil power is worldly, and exercised in 
making and executing civil laws, enforced with rewards and 
punishments of a worldly nature. Church-power is spiritual, 
and exercised in preaching the gospel, dispensing sacraments, 
and inflicting medicinal censures for the benefit of souls, 2 Cor. x. 
4, 5, 8. Heb. xiii. 17. 2 Thess. ii. 3, 4. 3 John 9, 10. 1 Tim. 
iii. 5. 1 Cor. xiv. 5, 34. xii. 28. v. 1 3. 4. In the manner of ex- 
ercising them. In exercising civil power, men may make laws, 
— judge according to human laws, — may act by delegates, or 
one by himself alone ; — must enforce obedience with civil re- 
wards or punishments, from which last repentance is not suffi- 
cient to exempt a criminal. In exercising church power we 
must make no laws, but judge every thing by the word of God. 
We must always act in the name of Christ : We cannot dele- 
gate our power to any other, nor one person exercise it by him- 
self, in acts of government ; nor enforce obedience by any thing 
but what is of a spiritual nature, Matt, xxviii. 18 — 20. xviii. 17. 
Acts xxvi. 17, 18. 1 Cor. v. 4, 5. 5. In their immediate end' 
Magistracy is to be executed for promoting the outward wel- 
fare of men as members of the commonwealth, Rom. xiii. 1 — 4. 
1 Tim. ii. 1 , 2. Church-power must be exercised for promoting 
the spiritual salvation of men as united to Christ, and members 
of his church, Eph. iv. 12. Acts xxvi. 17, 18. 1 Tim. iv. 16. 

Christ has not lodged church-power in the hands of diocesan 
bishops, that bear rule over preaching presbyters. 1. The 
Scriptures expressly forbid all lordly dominion in the church, 
3 John 9. 1 Pet. v. 3. Luke xxii. 25, 26. Matt. xx. 25, 26. 
Not tyrannical, but lordly dominion, however mild, is here pro- 
hibited. The Greek word expressing it is used by the seventy 
in Gen. i. 28. Psalm lxxii. 8, ex. 2. to express dominion, 
which none dare pretend to be tyrannical. — How absurd to ima- 
gine, that the mother of James and John asked a tyrannical 
power for her sons from Christ ! Or that he who acknowledged 
Cresar's authority, Matt. xxii. 21. would represent all heathen 
rulers as tyrants ! 2. Bishops and Presbyters are represented as 
the very same officers in Scripture. Several bishops or overseers 
were at Ephesus, all of whom are called elders or presbyters, 



OF CHURCH POWER. 5(3 

Acts xx. 17, 28. Several bishops governed the church in Phi- 
lippi, no great city, having no inferiour officers but deacons, 
Phil. i. 1. 1 Tim. iii. 3. The reason why elders or presbyters 
must be of good report is, that bishops must be blameless ; 
which marks them the same, Tit. i. 5, 6. Elders must feed 
God's flock bpiscopountes, acting- the part of bishops over them, 
1 Pet. v. 2, 3. Judas had a bishoprick, Acts i. 20. Peter and 
John, not inferiour apostles, were presbyters, 1 Pet. v. 1. 2 John 
5. 3. The power of ordaining pastors, which diocesans claim 
for their distinguishing prerogative, is, by the Scripture, placed 
in no standing church-officer, but in the presbytery, or meeting 
of elders. Nay, where elders were ordained, even the apostles 
did not by themselves ordain pastors, but concurred as members 
of the presbytery, 2 Tim. i. 6. 1. Tim. iv. 14. 

To anticipate objections, it must be observed, 1. That the 
twelve and the seventy disciples whom Christ, before his 
death, appointed to preach the gospel, had all of them equal 
power and authority, and but a temporary commission, Matt. x. 
Luke x. 1 — 21. 2. The apostleship for life bestowed on seve- 
ral after his resurrection, was an extraordinary office, in which 
they had no successors. 3. That neither Timothy nor Titus 
were fixed diocesans, but itinerant evangelists, who either tra- 
velled with the apostles, or were sent by them to supply their 
place, 1 Thess. i. 1. 2 Thess. i. 1. Rom. xvi. 21. Heb. xiii. 23. 
Col. i. 1. Phil. ii. 19. 2 Cor. i. 1. 1 Cor. iv. 17. xvi 10. 2 Cor. 
i. 19. iii. 2. 1 Tim. i. 3. 2 Tim. iv. 9, 10, 12. Gal. ii. 3. 2 Cor. 
ii. 13. vii. 6, 7. viii. 16, 23. xii. 18. Tit. iii. 12." 4. That the 
angels of the Asian churches were not diocesan bishops, but 
their pastors in general : and hence one angel is sometimes ad- 
dressed as several persons, Rev. ii. 10, 24. 5. That for the first 
three hundred years of the Christian church, such as moderated 
in their courts, or were more aged, or had more noted congre- 
gations, were often called bishops : and, in the last case, had 
other ordained preachers to assist them, and to officiate in case 
of their imprisonment or death. But we have no decisive proof 
of any diocesan lords. Nor do any, except the principal pas- 
tors of Rome, seem to have struggled hard for such a pre-emi- 
nence. 6. That no Protestant church, except in England and 
Ireland, is governed by diocesan bishops, properly so called, 
though indeed the almost nominal ones of Sweden and Den- 
mark would gladly be such. 7. That almost all the noted pri- 
mitive doctors of the Christian church grant that diocesan Epis- 
copacy has no foundation in Scripture. 8. Scarcely one argu- 
ment hath ever been produced for the support of diocesan Epis- 
copacy, but hath been effectually overturned by some other 
learned prelatist ; nor indeed can they combat the Popish go- 
vernment without destroying their own. 9. Diocesan bishops, 



564 Of CHURCH POWER. 

as such, have never been any honour to the church, or centre 
of unit)* : but have often been introducers and supporters cf 
Popish abominations. 

If Christ has not lodged church-power in the community of 
the faithful, or in magistrates, or in diocesan bishops, he must 
have placed it in officers of his own appointment, Matth. xvi. 19. 
xviii. 18 — 20. 2 Cor. x. 8. Heb xiii. 7, 17. 1 Tim. v. 17. 
1 Thess. v. 12. — Some of these were extraordinary, appoint- 
ed for the first erection of the gospel-church. 1. Apostles, 
who had an immediate commission from Christ equally extend- 
ed to all nations, as occasions offered, — were privileged with 
an infallibility in their doctrine • — had a constant power of work- 
ing miracles as directed by God, and of speaking languages 
which they had never learned ; — had power to confer the mira- 
culous influences of the Holy Ghost on others, and of sending 
forth evangelists, or by themselves ordaining presbyters and 
deacons, Mark xvi. 15 — 20. Acts i. — xxi. 2. Evangelists, 
who assisted the apostles in planting or watering churches, and, 
by their direction ordained presbyters and deacons, and erected 
judicatories in infant churches. 3. Prophets, who explained 
dark passages of Scripture, and sometimes foretold future events, 
1 Cor. xiv. 29—32. Acts xi. 28. xxi. 10, 11. 

Others of these officers were ordinary, which are divided 
into Bishops, Overseers or Elders, and Deacons. Bishops 
or elders are subdivided into pastors, or elders that labour in 
tvord and doctrine, and elders that only rule well. Their name 
Bishop or Overseer marks their authority over and inspection 
of others. Presbyter or Elder denotes their gravity, pru- 
dence, and experience, and their being but subordinate rulers 
under Christ to declare and execute his laws. Thus we have 
three distinct kinds of church-officers, Pastors Ruling El- 
ders, and Deacons. The office of the first includes the pow- 
er of the two latter ; and that of the second the power of the 
last, but not the distinguishing power of the first ; and the office 
of deacons includes no power peculiar to either of the two pre- 
ceding offices. 

I. The pastoral office is a spiritual relation to the Christian 
church, empowering men to preach the gospel, dispense the sa- 
craments, and concur in acts of governing church-members. 
Its divine institution is evident. 1. God furnishes and appoints 
pastors, teachers, bishops, or overseers, in the church, 1 Cor. xii. 
23. Eph. iv. 11. Acts xx. 28. Rom. xi. 6 — 8. 2. The quali- 
fications of such officers are divinely prescribed, 1 Tim. iii. 1 — 8. 
v. 21, 22. Tit. i. 5 — 9- 3. Such characters are, by the Holy 
Ghost, ascribed to them, as import authority and call to their 
work, as pastors, teachers, rulers, stewards, preachers, heralds, 
ambassadors, bishops, Eph» iv. 11. 1 Cor. xii. 28. 1 Tim- v. 17. 



OP CHURCH POWER. 566 

1 Cor. iv. 1, 2. Luke xii. 42. Rom. x. 15. 2 Cor. v. 19, 20. 
Acts xx. 28. 1 Pet. v. 2, 3. Rev. i. 20. 1 Thess. v. 12. Col. i. 
7. Eph. vi. 21. Matt. ix. 38. 4. The manner of their en* 
trance on their office, by the call of the church and ordination 
of the pfesbytery, is divinely prescribed, Acts i. 15 — 26. xiv. 
23. 1 Tim. iv. 14. 5. The work which belongs to this office 
is divinely prescribed, 1 Pet. v. 2, 3. 1 Tim. iv. 14 — 16. Acts 
vi. 2,4. 2 Pirn. iv. 2. ii. 25, 26. 2 Cor. xii. 15. 1 Cor. xiv. 9, 16 
17. Ezek. xxxiv. 2, 4. Heb. xiii. 17. Acts xxvi. 17, 18. Matt] 
xxviii. 19, 20. 1 Cor. xi. 23 — 26. 2 Tim. ii. 2. 1 Cor. v. 4, 13^ 
Tit. iii. 10. 2 Cor. ii. 6, 7. 6. People's behaviour towards mi. 
nisters is prescribed by God, 1 Thess. v. 12, 13. 1 Tim. v. 17. 
Heb. xiii. 7, 17. Gal. vi. 6. 1 Cor. ix. 7—19. 2 Thess. iii. 1. 
7. God has promised them encouragement in, and a reward of 
their work, 2 Cor. iii. 3, 5, 6. Rev- ii. 1. Matt, xxviii. 20. 
xvi. 19. John xx. 23. Matt. x. 40—42. Luke x. 16. John 
xiii. 20. 2 Tim. iv. 7, 8. 

The office of the gospel ministry is perpetual, continuing 
till the end of the world. 1. God has provided nothing to 
supply its place : Nor can any bestowal of the Holy Ghost 
exclude it, any more than it did in the apostolick age. Acts 
i. — xxi. xxvi. 17, 18. Heb. xi. 40. 2. The necessity of it is 
perpetual. Men are in every age ignorant and corrupt; Satan 
active ; heresy and errour raging, or ready to spring up ; gos- 
pel mysteries much unknown ; the conversion of sinners, edi- 
fication of saints, and silencing of gainsayers, still necessary, 
1 Tim. iv. 1 — 3. 2 Tim. iii. 1 — 7. 2 Thess. ii. 3 — 12. Acts 
xxvi- 17, 18. Eph. iv. 12 — 15. Tit. i. 11. 3. The removal of 
the gospel ministry is represented as an heavy judgment, which 
it could not be any more than the abolishing the Jewish cere- 
monies, unless the perpetual continuance of it were necessary, 
Rev. ii. 5. 4. God has wonderfully preserved a gospel mi- 
nistry amidst all the destructive rage and persecution of hea- 
thens and antichristians, Rev. vi. xi. xii. xiv. 5. The divine 
ordinances which are connected with the gospel ministry, are 
appointed to continue till the end Of the world, Eph. iv. 11 — 

13. Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. 1 Cor. xi. 26. 1 Tim. vi. 14. 

It is requisite to a man's being a minister of the gospel, that 
he be divinely qualified with, 1. Proper abilities, rendering him 
apt to teach, which includes rational and experimental know- 
ledge of divine truths, and being able to explain and inculcate 
them in a manner calculated to enlighten the minds, impress 
the consciences, and excite the affections of his hearers, Eph. 
iv. 7—11. 1 Cor. ix. 7. iii. 8. vi. 19, 2C. 1 Tim. iii. 2. 1 Cor r 
xii. 8. Col. iv. 3, 4. 1 Cor. iv. 19. ii. 2, 4, 6, 7, 13. 2 Cor. ii. 

14. iv. 2, 5. 2 Tim. ii. 15. Isa. 1. 4. xlix. 1, 2. lviii. 1: Mic. 
iii. 8. 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25. Acts xxiv. 25. 2. A blameless, 



566 OF CHURCH POWER. 

holy, and edifying conversation, 1 Tim. iii. 1 — 8. 2 Tim. ii. 
2, 21, 22. Tit. i. 5 — 9. 3. Distinguished zeal for advancing 
the glory of God in Christ, and tender compassion to the souls 
of men, Rev. iii. 19. Psalm lxix. 9. cxix. 139. Gal. iv. 18, 19. 
2 Cor. xii. 14, 15. 1 Thess. ii. 8. 1 Pet. v. 2. Jude 22. 

All heads of families, teachers of youth, and even neigh- 
bours, ought, in a private manner, to instruct those under their 
charge, in the truths of the gospel. But none, without being 
regularly^ called to it, however well qualified, ought to exercise 
any part of the ministerial office. 1. The Scripture plainly 
distinguishes between gifts for, and a mission to that office, 
John xx. 21, 23. Isa. vi. 6, 7, 9. 2. It most expressly de- 
clares a call absolutely necessary to render one a public teacher, 
Rom. x. 15. Heb. v. 4, 6. Jer. xxiii. 21, 32. 3. The charac- 
ter of preachers, heralds, ambassadors, stewards, watchmen, an- 
gels, messengers, &c. necessarily import a divine call, 1 Cor. 
ix. 17. 2 Cor. v. 20. 1 Cor. iv. 1, 2. Heb. xiii. 17. Rev. i. 20. 

4. Rules prescribed for the qualifications, election, and ordi- 
nation of gospel ministers, are declared binding until the se- 
cond coming of Christ, 1 Tim. iii. 1 — 8. v. 21, 22. vi. 13. 

5. God severely punished Korah, Saul, Uzza, Uzziah, and 
the sons of Sceva, for their intermeddling with the work of 
the sacred office, Num. xvi. 3 — 11, 32 — 38, 40. 1 Sam. xiii. 
8 — 14. 1 Chron. xiii. 9, 10. 2 Chron. xxvi. 16 — 18. Acts xix. 
13—16. 6. To rush into the ministerial office without a pro- 
per call, is inconsistent with a proper impression of the awful 
nature of the work of it, 2 Cor. iii. 5, 6. ii. 16. Ezek. iiiT 17 — 
21. xxxiii. 1 — 20. Rom. i. 1. Gal. i. 15, 16. John iii. 27, 28. 
Heb. xiii. 17. v. 4, 5. ; and introduces wild disorder and errour, 
Gal. ii. 5. 7. Christ's manifold connection with this office, — 
in his being the author of it, Eph. iv. 11, 12. ; his suspending 
much of the order and edification of his church on it, Acts xx. 
28. 1 Pet. v. 1 — 3. ; his including such power and authority in 
it, Matt. xvi. 19. xviii. 18.; his committing such an import- 
ant trust to ministers, Col. iv. 17. 1 Tim. vi. 20. ; his enjoin- 
ing his people to honour and obey them, 1 Tim. v. 17- Heb. 
xiii. 7, 17. ; and his promising present assistance in, and future 
gracious rewards to their faithful discharge of their work, — 
manifests the necessity of a diyine and regular call to it, Matt, 
xxviii. 20. 1 Pet. v. 4. 

The call of an ordinary pastor to his work ought to be two- 
fold. 1. A divine call, which consists in God's inwardlv in- 
clining his heart to it in an humble manner, and by regular 
means ; and which is often attended by a tract of providences 
shutting him up to it, exclusive of any other. 2 An eccle- 
siastical call, which consists in the election of the Christian 
people to whom he is to minister, and the ordination of the 



OF CHURCH POWER. 567 

presbytery. That adult Christians have a right from Christ 
to choose their own pastors is evident : 1. The church being a 
voluntary society, none imposed upon her members by men can 
be reiated to them as their pastor. 2. None can so well judge 
what gilts are best suited to their spiritual edification as Chris- 
tians themselves- 3. If men may choose their servants or 
physicians, why hinder Christians from choosing the servants 
and subordinate physicians of their souls ? 4. The Scripture 
allows the election of pastors in ordinary cases to adult Chris- 
tians, and to none else, Acts i. 15 — 26. vi.' 1 — 6. xiv. 33. 5. 
Christ requires his people to try the spirits, which supposes 
their ability to do so, and their power to choose such only as 
they find most proper to edify their souls, and to refuse others, 

1 John iv. 1. 6. The introduction of ministers into their 
office by patronage, of whatever form, has its origin from 
Popery ; tends to establish a tyranny over men's conscience, 
whom Christ has made free j — to fill pulpits with naughty, 
impious, and indolent clergymen ; — encourages simony, sacri- 
lege, and perjury ; — and effectually gives Christ the lie, mo- 
delling his kingdom after the form of those of this world, 
Ezek. xxxiv. 2—4. Isa. lvi. 9 — 12. John xviii. 36. The or- 
dination of candidates chosen for the ministerial office is not 
the work of the people but of the presbytery, 1 Tim. i. 14. 

2 Tim. i. 6. ii. 2. Acts xiii. 1 — 3. xiv. 23. 1 Tim. v. 21, 22. 
Tne work of a pastor when ordained, is, 1. With much 

inward compassion and zeal for the welfare of their hearers' 
souls, to feed them with the truths of Christ according to their 
different necessities, both publickly and privately, whether in 
the form of sermons, lectures, catechizing, or exhortation, 
when sick, &c 1 Pet. v. 3. 2 Cor. v. 11. 1 Cor. ix. 16. Phil. 
i. 17, 24, 25. 1 Tim. vi. 20. iii. 15. iv. 15, 16. 2 Tim. iv. 2. 
Gal. vi. 6. Heb. v. 11, 13. 1. Cor. iii. 1. Acts xx. 20, 21, 27, 
28, 31, 35. xxvi. 17,18. Ezek. xxxiv. 1. — 16. iii. 17 — 21. 
xxxiii. 1—20. Col. i. 28, 29. Isa. xl. 11. 1. 4- 1 Thess. ii. 2— 
12. v. 12. James v. 14. 2 Cor. xi. 28, 29. 2. To administer 
the sacraments in a proper manner to proper persons, Matt, 
xxviii. 19, 20. vii. 6. 1 Cor. xi. 23 — 29. 3. To rule over 
their people with impartiality, zeal, meekness, and prudence, 
censuring offenders, and absolving penitents, Heb. xiii. 17. 
1 Tim. v. 20, 21. i. 20. Tit. iii. 10, 11. Rev. ii. 2, 14, 20. 
1 Cor. v. 4, 5. 2 Cor. ii. 6, 7- 4. To care and provide for 
the poor, Gal. ii. 9, 10. 1 Tim. vi. 17, 18. 2 Cor. viii. ix. 
5. To give himself habitually to effectual fervent prayer for 
the church of Christ in general, and especially for those of his 
particular charge, Acts vi. 2,4. Eph. iii. 14 — 19. i. 15 — 20. 
Gal. iv. 19. Col. iv. 12. 6. To exemplify his doctrines and 
exhortations in an eminently meek, humble, holy, and edify- 



568 .OF CHURCH POWER. 

ing conversation, 1 Thess. ii. 10. 1 Tim. iv. 7. 8, 12, 16. vi. 
11, 12. 2 Tim. ii. 1, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23. iii. 14. Tit. i. 7—9. 
ii. 7, 8. Matt. v. 16—48. 

II. It Is plain from Scripture declarations, that Christ has 
appointed rulers in his church that are not appointed to preach 
the gospel, Rom. xii. 7, 8. Heb. xiii. 7, 17. Different gifts 
qualify men for teaching and for ruling, Eph. iv. 7. Such 
rulers are necessary for the assistance of pastors, Gal. ii. 9. 
10. Acts vi. 2—4. Exod. xviii. 17 — 23. — The complete form 
of every Christian congregation requires several elders, Acts 
xx. 17 — 38. xiv. 23. Christian churches have courts similar 
to those Jewish ones which had the power of excommunica- 
tion ; and which consisted of elders ruling as representatives 
of the congregation, Matt, xviii. 15 — 17. Num. xxxv. 24. 
Deut. xix.12. Josh. xx. 4, 6. Exod. xii. 3, 21 ; by comparing 
of which texts we find that congregation denotes rulers of it. 
The seventy use the very word ecclesia, which is trans- 
lated church in Matt, xxviii. 17. — But the divine appointment 
of ruling elders is still more evident, 1. From Rom. xii. 5 — 8. 
where we find in the one body of the gospel church prophesy- 
ing, which includes teaching and exhortation, which may cor- 
respond with teachers and pastors, Eph. iv. 11. ; and ministry, 
answerable to the deacon that gives out the church's charity, 
and shews mercy in visiting the sick and imprisoned, — and to 
the elder that rules with diligence. Here different gifts, given 
to profit withal, infer different offices, Eph. iv. 7 — 11. 1 Cor. 
xii. 7, 8. Here is one that rules charactererised by different 
gifts, and different work. 2. From 1 Cor. xii. 28. where we 
find governments, that is, governours, even as miracles de- 
note workers of miracles, — set by God in the Christian church. 
While they are represented as different from helps or dea- 
cons, Acts vi. 1 — 6. their designation of governments marks 
that their office is chiefly, if not solely, executed in ruling. It 
much more properly denotes them rulers of church members, 
than mere managers of church money. — It is further observa- 
ble, that God has set some, not all, governments or govern- 
ours in the church. From 1 Tim. v. 1 7. where some elders 
are represented as worthy of double honour, though they do 
no more than rule xvell, while others are represented as more 
worthy of double honour, because they not only rule veil, but 
also labour in word and doctrine. — All which elders belong to 
the church, compare chap. i. 19. iv. 14. iii. 15. — Kopiontes, 
labouring, doth not denote uncommon diligence, but the com- 
mon duty of all gospel ministers, 1 Cor. iii. 8. 1 Thess. v. 12. 
John iv. 38. — Malista, especially, — always in the New Tes- 
tament distinguishes persons or things of the same general 
class, one from another, Acts xx. 38. xxiii. 26. xxvi. 3. Gal 



OF CHURCH POWKR. 569 

vi. 10. Phil. iv. 22. 1 Tim. iv. 10. v. 8. 2 Tim. iv. 13. Tit. i. 

10. Philem. 16. 2 Pet. ii. 10 Not only do most of the 

chief Fathers in the Christian church declare for ruling elders j 
but even Papists and Episcopalians, who inveigh against them, 
have a shadow of them in their chancellors, officials, commis- 
saries, wardens : and bishops having no care of souls, are lay 
elders properly so called^ — Independents also manage most ol 
their congregational affairs by a few of their number. 

The necessary qualifications of ruling elders are, 1. True 
piety, 1 Tim. iv. 12. 2 Tim. ii. 21, 22. 2. Capacity forjudg- 
ing causes, 1 Chron. xii. 32. Deut. i. 13. 1 Kings iii. 5 — 15. 
Isa. xi. 2 — 5. Num. xi. 16, 1 7. 3. Wisdom, prudence, and up- 
rightness of conduct, connected with a good report from others, 
1 Tim. iii. 1 — 8. Psalm ci. 2 — 8.— 'Their ordination ought to 
be transacted in much the same manner as that of teaching elders 
or pastors. — Their duty in general is to rule -well; particularly, 
1. In judging the agreeableness of doctrines to the word o£ 
God, — judicially declaring what seems good to the Holy Ghost 
and to them, in controverted points of principle or practice, 
Acts xv. 28, 29. xvi. 4. Rev. ii. 2. Acts xx. 17 — 31. 2. In 
admitting persons to church-fellowship on proper qualifications, 
Matth. xvi. 19. 3. In directing or encouraging church-mem- 
bers to observe Christ's laws, for the honour of God and their 
own mutual edification, Heb. xiii. 7, 17. 4. In taking cars 
that all the ordinances of the gospel be duly preserved in their 
purity and perfection, Song i. 7, 8. 5. In carefully watching 
over the moral behaviour of church-members, — instructing, ad- 
monishing, exhorting, comforting, or rebuking them, as they 
find cause, Heb. xiii. 17. 6. In visiting the sick in body, or 
distressed in mind, Jam. v. 14. 7. In making provision for the 
poor, or other expenses necessary for promoting the spiritual 
ivelfare of the congregation, Acts xi. 27 — 30. 8. In judging 
the case of offenders and penitents, in order to censure the for- 
mer, and absolve the latter, Matth. xviii. 15 — 18. xvi. 19- 
9. In regulating diets of fasting, thanksgiving, the Lord's Sup- 
per, &c 1 Cor. xiv. 26, 40. 

III. The divine appointment of Deacons in the Christian 
church is beyond dispute, Acts vi. 1 — 6. 1 Tim. iii. 8 — 11. 
Rom. xii. 8. 1 Cor. xii. 28. Phil. i. 1. — Thev ought to be men 
of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost, and of xvisdom, 1 Tim. 
iii. 8 — 10. Acts vi. 3. — Their election and ordination ought not, 
in its manner, to differ from that of elders, Acts vi.l — 6.— Their 
work is to manage the temporal affairs of the congregation re- 
lative to the table of the poor, the table of ministers, and the 
table of the Lord, Acts vi. 2. 1 Cor. xii. 28. No other work 
is annexed to their office in Scripture. Hence, though some of 
the first seven deacons, becoming evangelists, might preach and 

4 F 



370 OF THE SOCIAL EXERCISE OF CHURCH POWER. 

administer sacraments, yet none, as deacons, have any right to 
do so. 

There is no hint in Scripture, that the offices of ruling el- 
der and deacon were designed to be temporary. Both of them 
were appointed on moral grounds and necessities respecting 
every church and period. The rules concerning them both are 
to be observed till the end of the world, 1 Tim. vi.' 13, 14. No 
congregation can therefore answer to Jesus Christ for dropping 
of deacons, any more than for the dropping of ruling elders. 



CHAP. III. 



Of the Social Exercise of Church Power in Sessions, 
Presbyteries, and Synods. 

IN preaching the gospel, and administering the sacraments, 
ministers exercise their power as single persons. But all juris- 
diction relative to admission of members, ordination of officers, 
censure of offenders, or absolution of penitents, is to be exercised 
socially, in courts constituted of two or more rulers, in the name 
of Jesus Christ, — viz. in Sessions, Presbyteries, and Synods. 

I. Sessions are church courts constituted of the rulers of a 
particular congregation. Their appointment by Christ is evi- 
dent. 1. The light of nature teaches us to decide smaller mat- 
ters by inferiour courts, Exod. xviii. 17—23. 2. The Scripture 
approves of judging lesser matters by inferiour courts, Exod. 
xviii. 17 — 26. Matth. v. 22. xviii. 17 — 20. 3. In the form of 
process against scandals, prescribed by Christ, there is a plain 
allusion to the courts of the Jewish synagogues or congrega- 
tional assemblies, Matth. xviii. 15 — 18. 4. In conformity to 
the Jewish synagogues, every Christian congregation hath se- 
veral elders allotted to it by God's warrant, Mark v. 35 — 38. 
Luke viii. 41. xiii. 14. John ix. 22. Actsxiii. 15. xviii. 8, 17. 
xiv. 23. Tit. i. 5. 5. Necessity requires such courts; it being 
impossible for every thing proper to be judged in congregations, 
to be got carried to presbyteries and synods. — It belongs to 
sessions to inquire into the spiritual state or Christian charac- 
ters of members of the congregation; to admit members to, or 
suspend them from sealing ordinances ; to admonish and rebuke 
offenders, or absolve them when penitent. 

II. Presbyteri-es are church-courts constituted of different 
pastors, and ruling elders from different congregations. — Such 
courts are warranted by Christ. 1, Many affairs of the church > 



OF THE SOCIAL EXERCISE OF CHURCH POWER. 57L 

as trial, and ordinition of pastors ; judging subtle hereticks ; 
composing differences in sessions, or between different congre- 
gations, require such courts, Rom. xiv. 19. 1 Cor. xiv. 26, 40. 

2. The strict connection of Chr-jtians in one mystical body of 
Christ, requires that unity of fellowship among them should be 
carried as far as possible, Rom. xii. 5. Eph. iv. 3 — 6. 1 Cor. 
xii. 12, 27. 4. There is an express mention of a presbytery at 
the ordination of Timothy, 1 Tim. iv. 14. 5. The Scripture 
exhibits several patterns of one presbytery governing several 
particular congregacions of Christians. 1. At Jerusalem three 
thousand nitre added to one hundred and twenty members of the 
then forming church, and others daily adding, Acts i. 15. ii. 41, 
47. Five thousand were afterwards added to them, and there- 
after such multitudes, that the twelve apostles, on account of 
their preaching the gospel-, had not time to receive or distribute 
their charity to the poor. To all these were added a great 
number of priests, and, no doubt, others obedient to the faith, 
Acts iv. 4. v. 14. vi. 7. All these taken together could scarcely 

be fewer than forty thousand. Notwithstanding repeated 

persecutions, Acts viii. xii. we find them many ten thousands, 
Acts xxi. 20.; which could scarcely be fewer thanforty or eighty 
thousand. Now, in what private house, and they had no other 
place, could all these assemble to eat the Lord's Supper toge- 
ther — .The twelve apostles, with several other teachers, la- 
boured ordinarily at Jerusalem, for many years, and preached 
the gospel in different languages. Now, how absurd to pre- 
tend, that they did all this in one single congregation, Acts ii. 
41,42. iv. 31—37. vi. 2. viii. 14. xv. 2. ii. 5 — 12.?— Never- 
theless, all the Christians in and about Jerusalem are represent- 
ed as one church, the rulers of which met together for acts of 
government, Acts xi. 27, 30. xv. 2. vi. 1 — 6. xxi. 18. 2. At 
Antioch a great number believed; and afterwards much people was 
added to the Lord s Acts xi. 24, 26. They had a great number 
of teachers, Acts xi. 20, 23, 26. viii. 1—3. xv. 35. How could 
such multitudes amidst persecutors find one place fit to contain 
them, in their eating the Lord's Supper ? Or, how could so 
many teachers find work in one single congregation? Neverthe- 
less, they are all called one church. Acts xiii. 1 — 3. xv. 35. 

3. At Ephesus the word of God grew mightily and prevailed. 
A multitude even of magicians believed, and burnt their devilish 
books to the value of fifty thousand pieces of silver, Acts xix. 
10, 17—20. 1 Cor. xvi. 8, 9. They had Paul, and twelve other 
teachers, that prophesied at once ; and afterwards a consider- 
able number of presbyters or bishops, Acts xix. 1 — 10. xx. 17, 
28, 36. — Nevertheless, all these Christians of Ephesus belonged 
%o one church, the rulers of which are represented as one Angel % 
and met to judge their spiritual affairs, Rev. i. 11. ii. 1. Acta 



S72 OF THE SOCIAL EXERCISE OF CHURCH POWER. 

xx. 17, 28. 4. At Corinth many believed; the Lord had much 
people, Acts xviii. 8 — 10. They had a considerable number of 
teachers that taught in different languages and churches, 1 Cor. 
xiv. 20, 26, 29, 32, 34. Nevertheless, all the Christians at 
Corinth were but one church, the rulers of which met together 
for government, 1 Cor. i. 2. v. 4, 13. 2 Cor. ii. 6, 9. In none 
of these places had they then any diocesan bishops, as their 
uniting heads. ' 

III. Synods are church-courts constituted of several presby- 
teries, in order to review their sentences when necessary, and to 
regulate affairs which are too hard for presbvteries, or which 
affect different presbvteries. The divine warrant for synods 
appears, 1. From the ecclesiastical sanhedrim of the Jews, 
which had the supreme power in excommnnications,&c. 2Chron. 
xix. 11. Mat. xviii. 18. 2. From the greater safety of exten- 
sive consultation, Eccl. iv. 9. Prov. xi. 14. 1 Cor. xiv. 32. 
3. From the law of necessity in some cases,-— as when a whole 
presbytery or their people are infected with errour or scandal J 
or when disputes arise between different presbyteries. 4. From 
the unity of the church. Mat. xvi. 18. 1 Tim. iii. 15. Eph. iv. 
4 — 12. 1 Cor. xii. x. 32. 5. From the pattern of the apostoli- 
cal synod, Acts xv. Here was a proper case for the decision 
of a synod; — a dispute which could not be composed by the 
presbytery of Antioch, and which concerned not only the 
churches of Syria and Cilicia, but also of Jerusalem, — from 
which the raisers of it pretended to derive their authority. Here 
the proper members of a synod were convened, — Apostles and 
elders at Jerusalem, with others deputed from the churches of 
Syria and Cilicia, — who all, as on the same level, judged, Acts 
xv. 2, 6, 22 — 36. xvi. 4 As it was impossible for all the be- 
lievers in Jerusalem to meet in this synod, we are uncertain if 
the brethren mentioned in the history of it means any but preach- 
ing elders, Acts xv. 22. ; but we grant that such private Chris- 
tians as were present signified their consent, and even voted in 
the election of the commissioners that were to bear the letters 

of the synod to the churches of Syria and Cilicia, &c Here, 

as in a synod, the Apostles and elders, by reasoning from facts, 
and especially from the Scriptures, prepared the affair for a de- 
cision. In the decision itself the whole power of a church 

synod was exercised. The true doctrine was solemnly asserted 
and declared ; the erroneous were publicklv stigmatized ; and a 
decree of decency and order was established. The whole de- 
cision was authoritative, not mere consultation, and hence is 
called a necessary burden imposed, — decrees ordained ; — and as 
such was cheerfully submitted to by the churches concerned, 



OF THE SOCIAL EXERCISE OFCHCJRCH POWER. 573 

Acts xv. 28, 31. xvi. 4, 5. 1 Thess. v. 12. 1 Cor. xvi. 16. Heb. 
xiii. 7, 17. 

The subordination of sessions to presbyteries, and of presby- 
teries to synods, is manifest, 1. From the very light of nature, 
which requires the subordination of the lesser to the greater. 
2. From the gradation prescribed by Christ in the removing 
offences, Mat. xviii. 15 — 18. 3. From the reference made by 
the churches of Syria and Cilicia to the Synod at Jerusalem, 
Acts xv. 4. From the absurdities which follow on the denial 
of it, as that no relief is left by the law of Christ for one that 
is injured by the greater part of a congregation, session, or 
presbv tery ; — that no means are left for the reclaiming a greater 
part of a congregation, session, or presbytery, — nor any means 
of promoting uniformity between sister congregations. 5. From 
a consideration of the peculiar advantages of presbyterian govern- 
ment. 1. It best restrains the lordly pride of clergymen. 2. It 
best secures liberty and peace to the people. 3. It best brings 
offenders to adequate censure. 4. It most effectually answers 
the purging out of errour. 5. It is best calculated to prevent 
schisms and separations. 

In the present imperfect state of the Christian church, Of- 
fences will often be both given and taken, Mat. xviii. 7- Of- 
fence or Scandal means some thing openly done or neglected 
by church-members, which in matter or manner is contrary to 
the law of God, and which tends to decoy others into sin, or 
mar their spiritual comfort, Isa. xxvii. 11. Hos. iv. 1, 2, 6. 
1 Cor. v. 11. vi. 9, 10. Gal. v. 19—21. 2 Thess. i. 8. iii. 6, 14. 
1 Thess. iv. 1 — 8. Rom. xiv. 1 Cor. viii. x. xiv. Mat. vi. 5, 16. 
Isa. xlviii. 5. Such offences are very bad in their nature and 
consequences, but are necessarily permitted by God, Mat. xviii. 
1 — 9. 1 . To punish hypocritical professors of religion, 2 Thess. 
ii. 8 — 12. 2. To occasion spiritual blessings to true saints, Isa. 
viii. 11, 12. Rom. xiv. 18, 19. 1 Cor. xi. 19. 3. To occasion 
the spread of the gospel, Acts xv. 37 — 41. Phil. i. 12—14. Rom. 
xi. 20 — 22. 

Great prudence and order, as well as faithfulness and zeal, 
are necessary in the removing offences. 1. If the offence be 
known to but one, or a few, the offender must be secretly re- 
proved, Lev. xix. 16, 17. Psal. cxli. 5. Prov. xxvii. 5, 6. Eph. 
v. 3 — 11. Mat. xviii. 15. 2. If no satisfaction be thus obtain- 
ed we are to take with us one or two friends, who may assist 
us in the reproof, or witness the offender's carriage under it, 
Mat. xviii. 16. 3. If the offender persist in the obstinate de- 
fence of his cenduct, or denial of that which can be proved, he 
must be delated to a church judicatory. 4. If he disregard the 
dealings and decision of the church judicatories with respect to 
him, he must be excommunicated from the fellowship of the 



9T4 OF THE SOCIAL EXERCISE OF CHURCH POWER. 

•church, and held as an heathen man and publican, Matth. xviii. 
17, 18. 

In their whole procedure, particularly in that which relates 
to scandals, the end of church judicatories, must be to support 
the innocent, condemn the guilty, and edify all concerned, Deut. 
xxv. 1. Rom. xiv. 19. 1 Cor. xiv. 26. 2 Cor. xiii. 8, 10. x. 8. 

■ In order to obtain this end, their conduct ought to be, 1. 

Candid and open, 2 Cor. i. 12. 2 Tim. ii. 15. 2. Regular, 
1 Cor. xi. 13, 14. xiv. 40. 3. Moderate and gentle, Phil. iv. 5. 
Luke ix. 51 — 56. 2 Tim. ii. 24, 25. 1 Thess. ii. 7, 8. Mat.x. 
16. Col. iii. 12 — 14. 4. Patient and long suffering, Prov. xviii. 
13. Eph. iv. 2, 32. 5. Prudent, Eph. v. 15. Eccl. iii. 1 — 11. 
Prov. x. 5. 6. With equity, Prov. xvii. 15. Mat. xxviii. 20. 
Rev. ii. 2. iii. 2. 2 Sam. xxiii.3. Luke xvii. 1 — 12. 7. With 
impartiality, James ii. 1 — 14. iii. 17. 1 Tim. v. 21. 8. With 
an earnest aiming to promote the glory of God in the edifica- 
tion of his church, Psalm lxix. 9. 1 Cor. x. 31. xiv. 26. 1 Cor. 
X. 8. xiii. 8, 10. 1 Pet. iv. 11. 

All the censures inflicted by church-courts, proceeding from a 
spiritual power, must necessarily be of a spiritual nature, affect- 
ing neither body nor goods. Their principal censure of ex- 
communication is reckoned two-Jbld, the lesser excommuni- 
cation judicially suspending church-members from partaking of 
the seals of God's covenant, 2 Thess. iii. 6, 14, 15. Rom. xvi. 
17. ; and the greater excommunication, which shuts them 
out from church fellowship altogether into the world, or king- 
dom of Satan, while they continue impenitent, 1 Cor. v. 4, 5, 
13. 1 Tim. i. 20. Tit. iii. 10, 11. Mat.xviii. 17 The rele- 
vant ground of such excommunication is not any disobedience 
to mere human authority, James iv. 12. Isa. lxvi. 5. John xvi. 
2, 3. ; nor any conduct indifferent in itself, Rom. xiv. 5, 6. ; nor 
any matter of doubtful disputation, Rom. xiv. 1. ; nor any slips 
of mere human infirmity, James iii. 2. Gal. ii. 11. But ei- 
ther some errour subversive of the gospel and our hope towards 
God, openly advanced and obstinately maintained, Tit. iii. 10, 
11. 1 Tim. i. 20. ; or obstinate perseverance in some scandal- 
ous practice, plainly condemned by the word of God, 1 Cor. 
v. 4, 5, 13. 

As this sentence becomes exceedingly dreadful by Gods rati- 
fication of it, Mat. xviii. 17, 18. John xx. 23. ; it ought not to 
be inflicted upon any before their scandalous errour or practice 
be fully proved against them, and they be allowed proper time 
to consider their conduct, and the nature and design of this 
awful ordinance, Tit. iii. 10, 11. The design of such excom- 
munication is, 1. To render offenders sensible and ashamed of 
their sin, afraid to continue or die in it, and earnestly desirous 
to repent and be saved, Jude 22, 23. 2 Thess. iii. 14. 1 Tim, u 



OP THE SOCIAL EXERCISE OP CHURCH POWER. 575 

20. 1 Cor. v. 5. 2. To prevent others partaking with them in 
their sin, and to deter them from the like evils, 1 Tim. v. 20. 
2 Cor. vii. 12. 3. To vindicate the honour of Christ, and his 
religion and church, 2 Cor. vi. 14— 18. vii. 1, 11. lCor. v. 7, 13. 

The power of excommunicating church-members being au- 
thoritative, belongs only to her rulers, Mat. xviii. 17, 18. xvi. 
19. ; to the many or more excellent, 2 Cor. ii. 6. Heb. xi. 4. Luke 
xi. 31, 32. Their warrant tor inflicting this tremendous cen- 
sure is, 1. The keys of the kingdom of heaven are committed to 
them, Mat. xvi. 19. 2. The\ nave Christ's express command 
to inflict it, Mat. xviii. 17 — 20. Tit. iii. 10, 11. 3. They have 
an approved example of it in the church of Corinth directed by 
an Apostle, — and another inflicted by that apostle ; in neither 
of which there appears any thing extraordinary in the occasion, 

matter, manner, effect, or end, 1 Cor. v. 1 Tim. i. 20. The 

procedure of church-rulers to inflict this sentence ought to be 
carried on, 1. With much solemn and earnest prayer, James v. 
16. 2. With much deep humiliation and mourning, 1 Cor^ v. 
2. 2 Cor. xii. 21. 3. With a deep impression of their own ap- 
proaching appearance before the tribunal of Jesus Christ, 2 Cor. 
v. 10, 11. Mat. xviii. 18. 4. With great meekness and compas- 
sion towards the offenders, Jude 22, 23. 

No performance of any natural or necessary moral duty to- 
ivards excommunicated persons ought to be suspended, 1 Cor. 
vii. 12, 13. Nor ought church-rulers to forbear dealing with 
them for their conviction, as God gives them opportunities. 
But to render them ashamed, all church-members ought, as far 
as possible, to avoid all familiar civil fellowship with them, 
1 Cor. v. 11. Mattb. xviii. 17. — None ought to be absolved or 
relaxed from this censure, and restored to the fellowship of the 
church, before, by their profession and practice, they have given 
such evidence of their repentance as would satisfy any impartial 
and inquiring mind, 2 Cor. ii. 6 — 10. 

Reflect. Ponder now, my soul! Am I a true member of 
the church of the living God ? Or, am I a branch that shall be 
withered, and cast out into eternal fire? — In this systematick view 
of God's truths, have I, last of all, beheld the tremendous sen- 
tence of excommunication and absolution from it? Let me 
think, as in Jehovah's presence, under what sentence of his I 
myself now am: — for what I am prepared, or preparing:— what 
I shall receive from Jesus Christ at his second coming.— Per- 
haps I must appear before his awful tribunal in the very same 
state and temper of mind in which I finish this work — this 

page.- Hearest thou, O my soul, what these thousands of 

truths which I have been reviewing, bear witness for, or against 
m^e ?---Alas ! Have I reviewed so many precious,—so many sav- 



576 OF THE SOCIAL EXERCISE OF CHURCH POWER. 

ing truths, and seen none in their glory, felt none in their 
power ? — Alas ! What an hell-hardened heart must I have now? 
if the vail still remain, and they have all proved a killing letter, 
a ministration, a savour of death unto death, unto me! How 
dreadful, if I leap into eternal flames with all this oil of gos- 
pel-truth in my conscience ! — To prevent this tremendous event 
— and to glorify the God of all grace, let me conclude my work, 
with a solemn surrender of myself, as a poor, an unparalleled, 
ignorant, guilty, polluted, and enslaved sinner, — to JesusChrist, 
as in the gospel made of God unto me wisdom, righteousness, 
sanctification, and redemption — Let my conscience,--let angels, 
—let the redeeming three, bear me witness, that I consent, 
heartily consent, that Jesus, and all that he is and has, be mine, 
and that I be his from henceforth and for ever; — and that in 
me, the first-rate sinner, he may shew, in the ages to come, all 
his long-suffering, and the exceeding riches of his grace. If my 
soul love not this Lord Jesus, let me be Anathema, Marana- 
tha, accursed at his coming: 



THE END, 



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